Shadows of the Sith, V2
by amthyst-fire
Summary: Thirty-Six years after Yoda's Shadow, crisis strikes the Skywalker family.
1. List of Characters

**List of Characters**

_Anakin's Family_

Padmé Naberrie, His wife

**His Children**

Luke Anakin Skywalker

Leia Amidala Skywalker-Solo

Elizabeth (Liz) Shmi Skywalker

Celia Jobal Skywalker

Cedric Ruwee Skywalker

Jaedrea (Jae) Clayre Skywalker

Julia (Jul) Nicole Skywalker

Jasmine (Jaz) Elyse Skywalker

**His children's spouses**

Han Solo

Mara Jade

**His children's children**

Sabé Solo

Kitster Solo

Ardrya Skywalker

**His Padawans**

Ahsoka Tano

Ash Ker

_Obi-Wan's Family_

Siri Tachi, his wife

**His Children**

Siri-Wan Burtola (Rain)

Dak-Tin (Dan)

Fel-Gin (Fin)

**His children's spouses**

J. K. Burtola

**His children's children**

Olisa Burtola

Kennis Burtola

**His Padawans**

Anakin Skywalker

Mara Jade Skywalker

Jaedrea Skywalker

_Sith and other Antagonists _

Darth Maul

Darth Immolious/Sev'rence Tann

Wilhuff Tarkin

General Grievous

_Other Jedi Charaters_

Aayla Secura, Aaylas'ecura, Leia's Master

Master Aloun, Jedi Master at the Caamas Temple

Coleman Trebor, Council Member

Eeth Koth, Council Member

Ki-Adi-Mundi, Council Member

Kit Fisto, Council Member and Corran Halcyon's Master

Mace Windu, Grand Master

Melaya, Initiate

Nadina, Ahsoka's Padawan

Oppo Rancisis, Council Member

Plo Koon, Council Member

Quinlin Vos

Saesee Tiin, Council Member and Julia's Master

Shaak Ti, Council Member and Cedric's Master

Soara Antana, Initiate Lightsaber Master

Stass Allie, Council Member and Celia's Master

Tolin, Initiate

Master Yoda

_Other Characters_

Canthreta, Senator

Clarels'overlen, Lethan Twi'lek leader of the community that was formed from a band of slaves Luke (& co) rescued

Enikil'asteran, a Twi'lek

Goeff, a tech in the Temple's landing area

Jace Aldous, a med-tech in the lower levels of Coruscant

Lando Calrissian, Baron Administrator of Cloud City

Lobot, human interface with Cloud City

Teriolt, favored son of New Ralltiir Mining Company mogul Kerant Entraket

_AS-5_

Gethor Alenx

Nasir Renolda

Laren Crenafta

_Rogue Squadron_

Rogue Leader—Garven "Boss" Dreis

Rogue Two—Wedge Antilles

Rogue Three—Wes Janson

Rogue Four—John D. Branon

Rogue Five—Biggs Darklighter

Rogue Six—Derek "Hobbie" Klivian

Rogue Seven—Jek Tono Porkins

Rogue Eight—Elyhek Rue

Rogue Nine—Zev Senesca

Rogue Ten—Bren Quersey

Rogue Eleven—Naytaan

Rogue Twelve—Theron Nett

Rogue recruits

Dak Ralter

Dash Rendar

Dllr Nep

Elscol Loro

Ibtisam

Kier Santage

Plourr Ilo

Sarkli

Tenk Lenso

Throm Loro

Tycho Celchu


	2. Arrival

**AN: Ok, so changes should be already apparent, in this second revision. We're playing it by ear, but will probably be sticking to the main plot lines that we had before. Probably. Yoda's on vacation this week, so he's more able to help me get stuff up. As this rolls out, I'll be getting back to my other stories as time allows, considering I'm taking 15 hours this semester.**

* * *

Chapter 1

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Master Yoda's Chambers, 39:4:1, before midnight**

Master Yoda woke, his eyes opening wide as he took in a breath quickly. He closed his eyes again, and sighed, moving deliberately over to the edge of the low bed, and climbing down. He dressed slowly; his shoulders slumped, perhaps from the weight of the centuries finally bearing down upon him.

He shuffled toward the door, leaning heavily on his cane, but then stopped for a moment, looking up, then sighed again, shaking his head as he continued on. "Too old have I become to be chasing Skywalkers."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:1, just before midnight**

Anakin woke with a start, sitting up in his bed, _alone_, he noted. The door to his room slid open with a hiss, admitting a slight figure. "Daddy, what's wrong?"

Her panicked words drew something to the surface he'd only recently discovered: fatherly compassion. "I don't know yet," he sat up with ease on the side of the bed, something that had been difficult for him since Mustafar.

"Daddy, you were screaming," she said slowly, "Why were you screaming?"

He made a derisive noise. "I had a nightmare."

"A real one?"

He reached over, knowing, but not knowing how he knew exactly, that there was a small lamp on the table beside his bed, and he turned it on. "What do you mean by a real one?" he asked, looking the girl over. She had Padmé's dark curls, and some of them had escaped her attempt at braiding them for the night. As she came closer to him, he noticed that she didn't have brown eyes, as he had originally thought, but a deep blue, like the oceans on planets like Alderaan. She was not tall, and he could see the beginning hints of the figure she would have as a woman, making him raise his estimate of her age a couple of years to about 11. He judged her to be shorter than Leia, probably by about ten centimeters.

"You know, a _real _one," she said in a way that made him think she thought he was supposed to know what she was talking about.

"A real nightmare?" he asked, confused.

"Yeah, you know, where they come true."

"Oh, those," he said, rubbing his face with his right hand. His real right hand. He looked at his hand for a moment, then dropped it back into his lap. He noted the feel of the carpet under his feet, and the lack of true feeling from his left elbow down.

"So, was it a real one?" she asked again, sensing that his mind had gotten distracted, perhaps.

"No, not that way. Nothing in that dream will happen," he said, trying to formulate a plan to get her out of his bedroom without causing her any more distress.

"Oh, that's good," she said, then after a moment, "So, if it wasn't a real nightmare, then what's wrong?"

"Sometimes remembering things is more painful than anything else."

"That's not an answer."

"It's answer enough, little one."

"Something's wrong with you, Daddy, and it's scaring me," she told him, and it hurt inside to see the pained look in her big blue eyes.

She had drawn close enough that he could pull her into a hug, and so he did, and he let her feel the out welling of love that simple gesture brought up in him. "Go to bed. We'll talk about this later."

"I don't think I will be able to go to sleep, Daddy," she told him, and he sighed.

"Well, one of us should try to get some sleep, don't you think?"

The door opened again, revealing the aged figure of Master Yoda. "Master," she said with reverent respect, bowing to him on one knee.

"Jasmine," he acknowledged her. "Agree with your father I do. Sleep, necessary for your mind and body, both it is. Discuss something I must with Anakin."

"Yes, Master," she agreed, relief flowing from her. He wished he could join her in the belief that Mater Yoda could make everything well with him.

Once Jasmine was gone, he opened his mouth to ask a question, but fell silent in the face of the once vibrant Master. "Your children we need to gather. Come, young Skywalker," and, confused, Anakin did as he was told without arguing, a feat only a few Jedi Masters had ever been able to accomplish.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Jade-Skywalker Quarters, 39:4:1, just before midnight**

Luke sat upright in bed, screaming, "Father, NOOOO!!" before he could catch himself.

"What's wrong, Luke?" a sleepy female voice from somewhere in the bed asked him. He couldn't see well enough to make out any details of his sleeping arrangements in the darkness.

His heart was pounding fiercely, and his breathing was ragged. "My father's been killed," he said, answering her question without thought as to why he would even be talking to her.

"What in the Nine Hells are you talking about, Farmboy?" she asked, now fully awake, and, from the sound of it, angry.

"Who are you?" he asked, finally realizing that he had absolutely no idea who he was talking to, and more over, why she would be in bed with him.

"What do you mean who am I?" she asked, flipping a light on, and getting out of bed, facing him as her green eyes sparked anger at him.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are," he said sympathetically. Her red hair was a startling contrast to her creamy skin, a complexion that came only to certain redheads and blondes, and even though her hair was bound up in a braid, he could almost imagine the way it would look if it were down. His eyes started to take in her figure, and if he were honest with himself, he liked what he saw.

"That's it, we're going to the Healer's. That bitch did something to you," she said, going over to a closet and opening it, pulling out a robe, a green one that matched her eyes.

Confused, Luke said, "But I feel fine, I just don't remember you. I don't remember this room, either," he added, hoping that would help his cause.

"You remembered me just fine last night," she said, closing her eyes as she paused, her knees going weak for a moment, "when we were celebrating. Force," she exclaimed, her eyes going wide, "You don't even remember that, do you?"

"Remember what?"

"The baby," she said as she burst into tears, and Luke felt an instinctively protective reaction, and went over to her, drawing her into a hug, comforting her as best he could. "Our baby," she continued as she sobbed, letting him comfort her as she cried, "I wanted to wait to tell the family until you were home. You've been gone practically since the baby was conceived. It's almost to the point where it's getting ridiculous to not say anything anymore."

"So," he started, "If I've been gone for so long, why didn't you say anything?"

She sniffled, looking up at him. "I wanted you to know first, but you were out running around the galaxy, chasing after the Sith, and it could have jeopardized your mission, not to mention putting your life in danger to try to contact you."

"That's sweet," he said, smiling at her, and she smiled back, but then grew serious.

"If you don't remember me, what do you remember?" she asked, talking into his chest as she her head lay against it, with him still stroking her hair.

"The last thing I remember is the battle at the Senate, I don't think anyone did anything particularly bad to me there, especially not any 'she's," he told her absently as he tried to comfort her, but once she thought through what he had said, she was up, pacing around the room again, leaving him sitting curled up next to the bed.

She stopped for a moment and looked at him as though he had completely lost her. "What battle at the Senate? There hasn't been a battle in the Senate in thirty-six years."

"Oh. What year is it?"

She sighed, "Thirty-nine. Come on, Farmboy, this isn't that difficult."

"That's not Imperial Standard," he commented.

"What are you talking about, Luke? You're starting to scare me."

Luke was quiet for a moment, "What time is it?" he asked her.

She glanced at the chrono, "Midnight, but what's wrong with you?"

"Just a second, I'm trying to do some calculations in my head."

"What are you talking about?"

"What day is it?" he asked.

"Quartus first, no second."

He closed his eyes as he worked though the problems on in his head, "Endor," he said finally. "It's still the same day as Endor."

"And what exactly is Endor?"

"A planet," he said, and would have gone into further explanation, but she cut him off.

"I've never heard of this Endor. You aren't talking any sort of sense. We are going to the Healer's."

He stayed where he was, and she turned back to face him, since she couldn't budge him, "I don't want to go to the Healer's. I've spent more time than I care to there in the last three weeks, and it's not that they aren't nice, but I just don't like going there."

"You are so stubborn," she growled at him. "I wonder why I married you some days."

He was quiet as what she said sank in. It only made sense, since she had been in his bed, but it scared him to think that he was married to a complete stranger, and the idea that she was pregnant with his child complicated things more than he wanted to think about right then. He stopped resisting, letting her drag him out of the door.

"Good, there you are," his father said, as he had obviously been about to ring the chime. "Let's get your twin, and we can get this done with," he said with distaste.

"Yes, Father."

"Good to see you, it is, Mara. Troubled you are," Master Yoda said, staying with Mara as they went down the hall, following their orders to get Leia.

"Are you ok?" Luke asked when they were reasonably out of earshot.

"Well, I feel pretty good for a man who just died, if that's what you're asking," he said, stopping at a door two down from Luke's. "Master Yoda said these are Leia's Quarters."

"Maybe I should try the door. She'll be less likely to throw things if she sees me first."

Anakin made a sweeping gesture and stepped out of the way.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Solo Quarters, 39:4:2, a little past midnight**

Leia was nearly in tears as she woke. Watching her father, her real father, who, if he'd known that she existed, would have moved the heavens and the planets to get to her, die before her eyes, when she'd barely gotten to know him was almost too much for her to take. She sat up on the side of the bed, sobbing, not understanding how she'd gotten where she was, figuring that she must have passed out.

"What's wrong, Princess?" a familiar, if sleepy, voice asked her.

"Han?" she asked, surprised to hear his voice, and confused as to what that meant.

"Did you want me to go get you Alderaanian spiced squash ice cream again?"

"No," she said, now really confused.

He moaned and rolled over on to his other side facing her in the dim light from a night lamp on the other side of the room. "Do you need me to do anything?"

"No, thank you," she said with a bit of chilly distance, not knowing why he was in her bed.

He sighed, and about two breaths later, he snored. She hadn't known that he snored, and she giggled. He snorted, waking up enough to say a very slurred, "What?"

"You snored."

"I do?" he asked, and then he did it again, and she refrained from letting out the giggle the sound evoked.

She heard the door chime, and made her way out of the bed with some difficulty. She felt heavy and burdened, but didn't understand why. She crossed the room to the door, and opened it, but it only led into the common room. The door chimed again, and she headed toward it, trying not to run into any furniture in the dim moonlight from the windows.

The door opened before she got there, outlining her brother in the stark light from the hallway. She made it the rest of the way without running into anything. "Luke," she said, breathing a sigh of relief as she gave him a hug, which he returned fervently.

"Shh," he said, stroking her hair, "Master Yoda wants to talk to all of us."

She nodded, and looked down the hall to where the Jedi Master stood, talking to a redhead who looked like she'd just gotten out of bed. "And her?"

"Mara Jade?" their father asked, frowning

They both turned to look at him. "You know who she is?" Luke asked.

Anakin shrugged. "I know who she was. I don't even know for sure who I am at this point, so what I know of her is likely irrelevant. We are back in the present, it seems."

"Yes…" Luke agreed, "Mara said it is year 39?"

"Great ReSync time," Anakin agreed, "What day?"

"Quartus second, the same day, basically, as we left, if I can translate calendars correctly," Luke answered, and Anakin nodded.

"It is," he said quietly after a moment's thought. "Alright, so we are in our present, but not _our_ present."

"We are in the present created by the changes that we made. You lost your arm in a battle with Maul, remember?" Leia said, pointing to the mechanical appendage.

Anakin looked it over, noticing several fairly obvious self-enhanced modifications. "I remember," he said quietly.

"It's going to be hard, doing this without remembering what we are supposed to remember." Luke said.

"Maybe that's why Master Yoda wants to talk to us." Leia agreed.

It was about that time that Master Yoda finished his conversation with the woman who had been identified as Mara Jade, and she went back into her quarters, while he headed toward them. Leia wasn't sure exactly why her brother was interested the woman, and definitely didn't want to know why her father knew anything about her, but those were questions for a later time.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:2, first hour**

Mara's concern for her husband grew when his father was waiting for them as they exited their quarters. "Good, there you are. Let's get your twin, and we can get this done with," he said, distaste obvious in his voice.

"Yes, Father," Luke said, sounding resigned, and she would have said something, but Anakin put his arm around Luke's shoulders and they headed for Leia's quarters, while Master Yoda demanded her attention. She hadn't even realized that he was there, since she was so worried about Luke, until he started speaking.

"Good to see you, it is, Mara. Troubled you are," he said, and she nearly collapsed in front of him.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked, and he stroked her hair for a long time until her tears lessened. She really hoped that Celia was right and the moodiness she had experienced thus far in her pregnancy would subside soon.

"Nothing that by time corrected it cannot be."

"But what is it? Is it Immolious?"

"Immolious it is not, but what it is, with Luke you will have to discuss. Time it is for me to go, Mara, and worry not for him. More difficult trials than this one has he faced."

She returned to bed, knowing that to pursue the issue further would be fruitless, and at least the knowledge that it wasn't anything Immolious had done comforted her.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:2, first hour**

Padmé came home after a long, drawn-out session of the Senate. She hated spending all of her time there, and having so precious little to show for it. She made her way into the bedroom, noting Anakin's absence. She wondered where he'd gone this time as she checked his workroom, and each of her children's rooms and not finding him. She checked the access panel for Ash's room as well, and found that it was set for Ash's sleep cycle, and even Anakin, as talented as he was, wouldn't be able to survive for long in an environment set up for a Kel Dor.

"Anakin, where did you go?" she wondered as she got into bed, turning off the lamp on his side of the bed that had been on when she'd gotten home.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, a meditation room, 39:4:2, first hour**

Anakin wondered what the Force had in store for them now, considering all that they had already been through. But that was the way of things; the Force never asked if you were about to break before throwing you into another fire pit, another tempering dip in icy water.

"Master Yoda, it's the middle of the night," Anakin said, hoping to dissuade him from a long, drawn out session of question-the-Padawan.

"Aware of that I am. Think you that I was not sleeping when the Force woke me, the disturbance caused by your arrival so great it was?"

Anakin sighed, resigning himself to having to play verbal cat-and-mouse with Yoda. "I'm sure you were sleeping, just as I am sure that whoever I was before was sleeping soundly before I was thrust into a body that, while I appreciate all that it can do, is not _mine._"

"Feel the same do you, Leia?" Master Yoda asked, and Anakin turned to look at his daughter.

"I do kind of feel like there's something horribly wrong with me," she admitted.

"You, my dear, are pregnant," Anakin said, realizing in that moment how much she looked like her mother, even in that.

She looked down at her stomach. "Oh."

"And you, Luke? Your scars are not your own any longer, though a change as large you have not had to endure."

He looked down at his right hand, taking in the fact that it was flesh, not mechanical, and said, "All in all, I would say it's probably worth it."

"Troubled your wife is at your inability to remember her," Yoda said to Luke.

"What?" Anakin asked before anyone else got the chance to say anything.

"Mara, married she is to the younger Skywalker, as Solo is to your oldest daughter," Master Yoda answered.

"Han?" Leia asked, outraged at the imposition on her life that this would represent. It wasn't that she didn't like Han, she did, and even maybe in that way, but it was very sudden to be thinking about being married to him.

Master Yoda sighed, closing his eyes and folding his ears in a bit. The three of them fell silent quickly at the unspoken reprimand. "Imperative it is that we determine whether you can access your memories from this time. Suspect I do that able to you will be. Meditate on your situation, you should," he said, indicating private meditation chambers, "Come see you in a few hours I will," Master Yoda said, and left as they settled down to meditate.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, a meditation chamber, 39:4:2, dawn**

Luke was not prepared for the rap across the crown of his head from a gimer stick. It could only be a gimer stick, because only Yoda would have the audacity to treat full-grown Jedi in the manner of unruly children. "Ow," he said, rubbing the spot that now throbbed, but the ache eased quickly. He'd been hit far harder and in more sensitive spots by that same stick.

"Come to see how you are progressing I have."

"Master Yoda, I'm not sure what we are supposed to be trying to remember. I am starting to get vague impressions that things are different and yet so much the same, but it really isn't very clear."

"Understand I do that difficult this is. Attempt this you must, for the sake of those you love, younger Skywalker," he said.

"Who is Jasmine?" Luke asked.

Yoda smiled and said gently, "Youngest Skywalker will find you soon. Listen to words she does not, but instead to the voice of the heart. Much pain, I fear in this for her."

"I don't want to hurt anyone, Master," Luke said.

"Know this I do, Luke, however, unavoidable it may be."

"Who is she, Master?" he asked, returning to the topic of Mara. " My father seems to be familiar with her," Luke asked, not mentioning the fact that he found her to be the most beautiful woman in the world.

Yoda chuckled, and at the annoyed look on Luke's face he said, "Sensed your thoughts, I did, young one. She is your wife, more than that, with her you must discuss," Yoda said with a sigh, "Much has changed since you left for the Senate. Find the answers to your other questions you will, in time. Now come, invited myself to your family's breakfast I have."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, a meditation chamber, 39:4:2, eighth hour**

Leia came out of her meditation when Luke touched her shoulder.

"What are we going to do, Luke?" she asked him as she stretched her legs out.

"Have breakfast you will, now come," Master Yoda said.

"That is not very helpful," Leia said.

"And more respect your Master taught you, younger Skywalker," Master Yoda said and rapped her head with his gimer stick.

"Ouch!"

"Hurt you I did not, now come, your mother waits, and we must fetch your father, asleep he has fallen, I believe," Master Yoda said, sounding long suffering.

Indeed when the three of them arrived in the mediation room Anakin was in, they heard soft but pronounced snoring coming from his still sitting form.

"Told you I did, asleep he is! Disgraceful," Master Yoda said in a severe tone, but Leia could swear she heard amusement in his voice.

Luke started over to wake his father, but Yoda blocked him with his gimer stick.

"Watch, wake him as Obi-Wan did when he was small, I will," Master Yoda said, putting out his hand, soon soft giggles started punctuating the snoring and it was all Leia could do not to start laughing too.

"Just five more minutes, Padmé," he mumbled. Yoda accelerated the assault, and Anakin was soon in peals of laughter.

"Ok, ok! I'm awake! I'm awake! Uh…where…oh…yeah," Anakin said, the moment gone, and the brooding mask returned.

"Good morning, Master," Anakin said.

"Meditate you were told to do, not sleep!" Master Yoda said.

"Forgive me, Master," Anakin said, though slightly sarcastically.

"Harrumph, at least remember your manners better do you than your daughter. Come, it is time for breakfast, and cranky your wife gets if late you are."

Leia walked between her brother and her father as they entered their family's main quarters to a bedlam of frenzied activity, behind Master Yoda. "Daddy?" a little girl, ten or so, walked up to them.

"What are you supposed to be doing?" Anakin asked sounding exasperated.

"Having breakfast, but you're late," she chastised him.

"Well, that can't be helped. Go on. We'll be at the table in a minute."

"Youngest Skywalker should be more patient," Master Yoda said as she walked by him.

She turned, blushing, and very quietly said, "Yes, Master."

"Difficult, young Skywalker was, when thirteen he was."

"Daddy?"

Yoda nodded slowly. "Obi-Wan, tell you he will, if you ask. Almost as difficult as your sister, young Skywalker was."

She giggled. "That I find hard to believe," she said, and headed toward the table and food.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:2, eighth hour**

Mara came up to Luke and hugged him tightly, "Did the little gnome help?" she asked, just loud enough for Yoda to definitely hear.

"Heard that I did! Amused I am not!" said. Mara giggled at his faux outrage.

"I still don't remember you, but I want to," Luke said, soft enough that only she could hear, nuzzling his face into her now-unbound hair, "Master Yoda seems to think that we'll integrate our…new memories, for lack of a better term, in time."

"Not the answer I was looking for, beloved, but it's honest, the way you always have been. Do you want to tell them still?" she asked.

"About the baby?" Luke paused and thought a moment, "I don't see a reason to wait."

Mara nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. Luke hugged her tightly again, only to have the moment spoiled by a loud voice, "Hey! No baby making at breakfast, Mom said!"

This was followed by a more familiar voice, "I did not, Jaedrea, now apologize to your brother and sister-in-law; he's been gone a long time and they are entitled to a little privacy, even at breakfast," Padmé's tone, though, carried the warning that such permission shouldn't be abused.

"I think the others are waiting on us," Luke said.

Mara laughed softly through her tears, "It's good to have you home, Farmboy."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:2, eighth hour**

Leia chuckled at the exchange…Jaedrea was having with Luke and…Mara, yeah, that was her name, and their mother.

"Feeling better than last night, Princess?" Han asked breaking her concentration away from the ongoing exchange. She looked up at him, finding him in a uniform, and not one that she recognized, but it made his already irritatingly handsome self even more attractive.

"I've been worse," she answered.

"That isn't an answer and you know it. I know your father and brother came and took you away at an inhuman hour after you woke up last night from that nightmare. I'm not going to press if it's Jedi business, but if you can, I wish you'd tell me," he said.

She could hardly believe her ears, Han was being not only reasonable, but gentle…no that wasn't fair and she knew it. He had always had that gentle side, even if he kept it hidden.

"Master Yoda was with them," she said, and paused to gather her thoughts.

"Must be pretty important to get him out of his room," Han said.

"I suppose so, or at least he thinks it's important. How it could be to the grand scheme of things I don't know. It is important to the three of us at least, and will affect the rest of the family most likely," she said.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this?" Han said.

"You've always been perceptive, more than I give you credit for. No, you aren't going to like it," she said.

"Well, don't keep me in suspense!" Han encouraged.

"I don't remember any part of my life."

Leia didn't get farther than that when Han interrupted with, "What?"

"Patience, flyboy, let me finish before you react. It's more like I don't remember this life. I have full and complete memories of a life, starting when most memories start and moving forward to right now, however in those memories, we aren't married," she paused, and looked at him long and hard enough to stop him from interjecting again, "Well, at least we weren't married yet, before I got yanked off of Endor."

"Huh?"

Before she could answer, Mara started tapping a glass to get everyone's attention.

"Wonder what this is about?" Han asked.

"I don't know, listen and we might find out."

"Are you sure you don't remember me?"

"I never said that and you know it," she said poking him in the ribs.

"Just checking," Han said.

"Now shut up and pay attention," Leia said.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:2, eighth hour**

Padmé looked Anakin over as he entered their quarters, and knew something was terribly wrong. She thought about making it through the throng to him, but knew it would be pointless to try. He looked at her, and he looked haunted, as though he'd seen something that would change him for the rest of his life. He smiled when he saw her, but it seemed forced somehow.

"Hey! No baby making at breakfast, Mom said!" Jaedrea's voice rang through the room.

"I did not, Jaedrea, now apologize to your brother and sister-in-law; he's been gone a long time and they are entitled to a little privacy, even at breakfast," she said sternly, but it was more to Jae than to the two of them. No one seemed in the least mood to settle down around the table, even though Mara and Luke were making their way over to the table.

Mara picked up a glass and a knife, tapping the side of it to catch everyone's attention, and everyone quieted down quickly enough. She could see Celia nearly bouncing out of her skin, but everyone else looked like they were simply waiting patiently. "Luke and I have an announcement to make."

He took her hand as she paused, and she looked at him, smiling, and she was sure that Luke smiled back. Padmé felt something inside of her uncoil at that simple gesture, and listened as Mara announced, "We're going to have a baby."

The room erupted into glad conversation instantly, and she made her way around to where her husband was standing with the former Grand Master. "Where did you go last night?" she asked him gently as he wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding her like she was the only solid thing in the universe. He did that sometimes when he was stressed, but she could usually tell that something like this was coming on, and she'd been given no warning.

"Master Yoda had need of me, not that I turned out to be much use," he said, dark humor creeping into his voice.

"Humph," Master Yoda interjected. "Snore like a heard of Banthas he does."

"Be that as it may," he said, sounding patient, "We need to talk."

"So talk. You know you can tell me anything," she said when she saw the worried frown crease his forehead.

"I'm not sure how to say what I need to say," he said, frowning further.

"Unnecessarily complicated you are making this, young Skywalker."

He sighed, resting his chin on the top of Padmé's head. "It is my choice to do so," he pointed out, trying to be reasonable.

"Tell her I will," Master Yoda offered.

"Fine," he growled, letting her go, and stalking off, upset by whatever it was that she needed to know.

Yoda sighed, his ears folding in against Anakin's mood. "A terrible crisis, this family faces. Terrible," he said, shaking his head. "Remember you do, the Massacre at the Senate?" She nodded, confused and a bit concerned that he was bringing it up. "Three souls disappeared into the Force that day. Returned, they did, last night."

She gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "I, I," she started to say something, but before she could get any further than that, Anakin was there, tenderly holding her, and she pushed him far enough away that she could look in his eyes. She searched them, finding the things that she needed to see. She also saw things she didn't like. "Anakin, do you remember any of the last 36 years?" she asked him hesitantly.

"Yes, I do, but it is…different?"

She sighed at his response; long years of marriage letting her know that she could still handle him, even in this. "What does that mean?" she asked him sternly.

"First, youngest Skywalker needs to come up from under the table, spying she is!" Master Yoda sounded severe, but Padmé recognized the carefully hidden amusement.

"I'm sorry, Master Yoda, I'm just worried about Daddy," Jasmine said.

"You go over and talk to your sisters, we'll decide how much of this you need to hear Jasmine," Padmé said, sounding sympathetic to her youngest, but at the same time it was clear she wasn't going to budge on this.

"Daddy, can I stay?" Jasmine said, invoking the time worn strategy of divide and conquer.

"No, sweetie, we need time to organize how much to tell you kids. One day, I promise you'll know the whole story," he said.

"Ok, Daddy," she turned to Master Yoda, "Fix him, please?"

"Do my best I will, Youngest Skywalker," Master Yoda said and was nearly knocked over by her exuberant hug.

"Thank you!" she said then scampered off.

"At least you still know how to handle your youngest daughter," Padmé said, smiling at her husband.

"She's a sweetheart, her heart is in the right place. She'll be a great Jedi someday. Who's her Master?" he asked.

"She doesn't have one yet," Padmé said in a conversational tone.

"What?" Anakin said, "She's, what twelve? She'll be sent to the AgriCorps!" Anakin barely kept himself from shouting.

Master Yoda rapped his head with his gimer stick, causing Anakin to yelp in pain.

"Be mindful of your loudness, young Skywalker, others are here. Not to the AgriCorps will your daughter be sent, changed the rules have. Thirteen is Youngest Skywalker, and two years has she to find her Master," Master Yoda said with finality. "Not long, I feel, it will be for her. Now to the problem at hand."

"Shouldn't Luke and Leia be in on this discussion, they are involved as well? As I remember they were involved in those events," Padmé said.

"Mara and Han should be in on this too," Anakin said.

"Agreed, attend they should," Master Yoda said.

Padmé looked at her chronometer, "Right now we have to get our brood on their way, it's getting late."

Julia, is Zev is going to pick you up?" she asked, and a head of light brown hair perked up.

"Yes, but he's always late, Mom," she answered, unconcerned.

"I'm just making sure."

She turned back to the remains of her breakfast, "Sure, Mom," she said, and she went into her room.

Padmé sighed. "Celia, don't you have to be on the other side of town in twenty minutes?"

Her blonde head turned toward the clock. "About that," she said, and walked over to them. "See you later, Mom," she said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. She gave her father a hug. "Bye, Dad," she told him, and picked up a bag by the door and left.

"Cedric," she started, but he was already standing.

"I know. I have to be in Canthreta's office in ten minutes."

She nodded grimly. "Well?"

"It only takes me five to fly there. I'll be on time," he said with a quick kiss on the cheek, and he breezed past his father and out the door.

"Elizabeth, are you ready? Your transport leaves in an hour."

She looked distressed, but waivered as to whether to do anything about what was on her mind. "Don't worry about this, I'll get it cleaned up."

"Thanks, Mom," she said gratefully. "I'll see you in two months."

"Alright then, dear. Have a good trip."

"You're awful quiet, Dad," she said to Anakin.

He shrugged. "I'm working out a problem in my head."

"Love you," she said, probably thinking that he would tell her when he was finished with it.

"Have a good trip," he managed without it sounding forced.

"Thanks, Daddy."

Liz went into her room, and they only had two of the triplets to deal with.

"Come on, Padawan. I think some meditation is first on our agenda today," Obi-Wan said to Jaedrea, and she groaned, causing Anakin to laugh.

"Yes, Anakin, she is your child, and you are enjoying this way too much," Obi-Wan said to his former Padawan.

"You chose her, my friend," Anakin said.

"Yes, I suppose so, come Jaedrea, we have a busy day," Obi-Wan said leading her away.

"Jasmine, don't you have class?" she asked when it was finally down to just her and Anakin, the twins and their spouses, Yoda and Jasmine.

"Can I stay?"

"May I."

"May I stay?"

"No, Little Bit, you need to go to your classes," Luke said.

"Too curious for her own good, Youngest Skywalker has always been." Master Yoda said.

"Ok…" Jasmine said, obviously dejected.

"What time is your lightsaber class?" Luke asked suddenly.

"You remembered!" she squealed and ran over and hugged Luke then bounded out of the room, satisfied that there wasn't anything so wrong that it couldn't be fixed with time.

"You remembered that?" Mara asked.

"Not consciously, but I learned along time ago to trust my instincts," Luke said.

"An auspicious sign this is," Master Yoda asked.

"Ok, now what's going on?" Han asked, "Oh and congratulations by the way kid."

"Thanks Han. Anyway the story started…last night I guess when I was on the Death Star…" Luke started and they began relating the story of how the three of them were thrown backward into time and apparently changed history by killing then-Senator Palpatine.

* * *

**Endor, **_**Death Star**_**, Throne Room, 39:4:2, ninth hour**

Darth Immolious approached her Master in the darkness of the Throne Room on the still under construction battle station. Two others were present also; she hated it when he made her prostrate herself in front of them.

Star Marshal Tarkin looked smug as always, and if he hadn't been the most skilled at space fleet tactics she'd have killed him a long time ago. She found his…interest in her sickening. He was also a big supporter of this battle station, which she found a waste of resources. They could have a fleet and enough battle droids to garrison the whole of the Republic with 10,000 units a world.

The second was a monstrosity, an obscene mix of organic and mechanical, General Grievous was the leader of their ground forces. He was a sadist that would think of nothing of wasting a whole planet. She found him reckless and wasteful of their limited resources. He seemed to think that since they built their soldiers, that they were expendable. He also talked endlessly about how he would crush the forces of the Republic, while Immolious felt that once really tested he would prove to be a coward.

She kneeled before Darth Maul, "What is thy bidding my Master?" she said, the ancient greeting of apprentice to Master since the days of Darth Bane.

"You failed to kill Skywalker's oldest, Immolious. You have become less than…efficient since the incident with Skywalker's younger son. I wonder why that is?"

"No reason, my Master," Immolious said, this was a dangerous line of questioning. Truthfully she did not know why she stayed her hand that day on Korriban, but now was not the time to analyze that battle, she was currently in a fight for her life.

"If you say so, my apprentice," Darth Maul said.

"I do, my Master," she said.

"We are approaching the time to attack the Republic, and this battle station must be ready. I am sending you to Bespin. You will secure control of the facility there and use it to get us the final components of the primary weapon, I trust you not to fail me again, my apprentice.

"Yes, my Master," Darth Immolious said, but hidden underneath the words were the seeds of dissention.

Her Master then turned his attention to the others present, leaving her lying on the floor.

"Star Marshal, when will our fleet be complete?"

"We are still completely on schedule, my Lord. We will have 100,000 capital ships inside of six months, about the time the Death Star is complete. I also am starting to plan out the first campaign of the war," Tarkin said.

"Good, Star Marshal. It is good to know that one of my servants knows what he is doing," Darth Maul said, shame flowed through Immolious at the obvious condemnation of her recent performance, anger quickly following as she realized she, thus far had been the only one of the three to really do anything to advance their goals.

"General Grievous, what of our Army?" Darth Maul asked.

"All is progressing as expected, our battle droids will be ready to crush all opposition!"

"See to it, General, that your words are not an empty boast. I do not suffer failure for long," Darth Maul said. Immolious smiled as the arrogant cyborg shrank back, just for an instant, but it was noticeable.

"Of course, my Lord," Grievous said.

"Good, now leave me. You all have work to do," Darth Maul said and Immolious left, followed quickly by the other two.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Grand Master's Quarters, 39:4:2, tenth hour**

Mace Windu was meditating when someone knocked at his door. He sighed, having hoped that he would have at least an hour to himself before the Grand Master of the Jedi was _required_ for something. He was surprised at the appearance of Yoda. "There's a problem?" he asked, and Master Yoda sighed, wrinkling his brow in a way that didn't bode well for the future.

He entered the room, settling on one of the meditation cushions scattered about before answering. "Vader has returned."

Mace dropped to one of the cushions himself. "Well, some of those who have studied the situation thought that might happen."

"The children of Vader have returned as well."

"That was also considered as a possibility," he agreed, mentally trying to figure out what would need to be done to excuse three of their best Jedi from active duty indefinitely. "How bad is it?"

"Several hours of meditation have they done at my instruction. An impression of the way of things Luke seems to have grasped. Discuss with him we should, this and his last mission. A habit he has made of writing his reports on his trip home. Sufficient this should be, for our purposes, as to the activities of Immolious and Maul."

Mace nodded. "So they should remember what is going on in their lives now?"

"Remains to be seen, that does."


	3. Confessions

**AN: Thanks to those who reviewed: DigitalDreamn, Dawn369, and TriGemini. Hopefully this will satisfy for a little while, hope that it won't be more than a week before I get the next chapter up, but no guarantees. **

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Solo Quarters, 39:4:2, tenth hour**

Leia sighed, wishing she understood Han better. It wasn't that she didn't understand him precisely, but she feared that the differences between the Han that she'd known in another universe and the Han she was facing as her husband seemed an infinite chasm right at that moment, when she was alone with him, tired and a bit afraid of what was going to become of her.

She was nothing that she'd known before. She wasn't a Rebel Princess. She wasn't a former Imperial Senator. She wasn't a military strategist. What she was, actually rather scared her. She was a Senior Jedi Padawan. She was the oldest daughter of the Hero With No Fear. She was a Skywalker, no matter the fact that she didn't use that name anymore. She was so much more than she had been, but so much less than she wanted to be.

"Relax, sweetheart. Everything is going to be ok," he said, and she was sure it was meant to be soothing, but right now, he was an unknown, and she felt she couldn't be distracted, so brushed off the gentle hands he put on her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Han, not right now," she didn't know why she was so tense, but it didn't really matter. She was afraid that she really wasn't was ready to deal with him every day. But she'd dealt with him every day for years, that wasn't actually the problem. It was that she didn't have personal space that he couldn't invade. No, that wasn't it either. She wasn't quite ready for the leap from just barely firmly a couple to married.

The look on his face told her that she'd hurt him, and she hadn't meant to. She could feel herself softening, the hurt little boy look working in spite of what she thought she needed, what she thought she wanted.

"I'm leaving tomorrow with Master Ki-Adi-Mundi, for a mission that's expected to last not more than a month. After that I have paternity leave. However, we both know that these missions…wait I guess you don't know how they tend to take longer than is thought."

She hadn't been expecting that. She sat down, and told him, "Oh, I've got plenty of experience with missions going south. Such as our escape from Hoth."

"Which brings up that. We didn't have time to get into just how different the…timeline you came from is."

"No, we didn't, of course if we did, we'd still be there. Yoda is so…strange. Luke knows more about him than I do."

Han nodded and sat down, "What was the other me like?"

"I don't know that there was another you, not in the strictest sense." Leia said.

"Ok, what was I like in this other time line. You said we knew each other, how did we meet?" Han asked.

"We originally met on the Death Star…" Leia started, but Han interrupted.

"Death Star?" he asked.

"Pay attention, questions after the story," she said.

"Fair enough."

"I was a prisoner on the Death Star…" Leia continued the tale of how Han, Chewie and Luke broke her out and eventually destroyed the Death Star.

"I worked for a crime lord?" Han asked.

"Yes, you did. You had had a stint in the Imperial Navy, but you ended your career with them to save a Wookiee slave," she said, and relayed what she knew of the story of how he and Chewie became partners.

"Chewie," he said, shaking his head.

"Yes, the weird part for me isn't the differences, it's how much is the same. You're still officially Republic Navy, but you're still flying in that bucket of bolts."

"Hey!"

"And the _Falcon_ is still a sore spot with you," Leia chuckled.

"Well…she's a good ship, I've put a lot of work into her myself," Han said.

"That is what I mean, you are still the same person I left on Endor, just not quite as beat up by the galaxy. You still have the same devil-may-care attitude, but your nobility is still there. I think that's why I fell in love with you," Leia said, and he looked at her with the crooked smile that she knew was trouble for her.

"Good, I'd hate for this to come between us, but I still have to go in the morning, so we are going to go to the opera that you love so much, because this is probably the last time we will have a chance for a very long time, since we are having twins."

She sat down. "Twins?"

"That is what the Healers say anyway, I figure they know more about it than I would," Han said, his characteristic smirk coming on his face.

"So when did we get married?"

"Six months ago."

"Really?" she asked. "So we're still practically newlyweds."

He sighed, looking pained. "Yes, but to be in with the rules we shouldn't be. You are in your seventh month. I wish I wasn't going tomorrow, because of the twins, and this...development really makes me not want to go, but Master Mundi needs the best where he's going," Han said.

She laid her hand on his, and looked in his eyes. He had trusted her not to hurt him, in a lifetime where he'd been hurt, not as much as in the Empire, but the deepest hurts he'd had, had come when he was very young. She had known that much about him from before. "So why didn't we wait?"

He drew in a deep breath, letting it out in a rush. "We got too tired to fight it anymore," he said, and she waited for him to continue. "Freak accident. Never seen anything like it," he said, shaking his head. "I was escorting you and your Master," he started, but she interrupted him.

"I have a Master?" she asked, not sure exactly what he was talking about.

"Yes," he said slowly, "You are her Padawan. As I was saying, I was escorting you and your Master while you were on Askaj dealing with a civil war, and you and I went up in the _Falcon _to get above the communications jammers, and we were hit with the aftershocks from some explosion, and it damaged some of the systems, including the safety net for the hyperdrive, and it knocked the _Falcon _around enough that my hand hit the hyperdrive engage, and we went into hyperspace."

"What happened then?"

"I had to fight to disengage the hyperdrive, and by the time that I could, we were within the atmosphere of a planet, and headed for impact very quickly. It was all I could do to make sure that we landed relatively safely on that planet, it was an ice planet; average temperature ran around minus 40. The _Falcon_ was comfortable enough, but going out was damn near impossible. Good thing I'd just stocked it before that mission. Took your dad and Luke two months to find us."

She didn't know how she would have reacted to being locked up with Han for two months solid in his ship. Probably would have avoided him, but it would have probably been fruitless. "And somewhere along the way, we stopped fighting each other," she said.

He nodded, then said, "It was kind of out of the blue, one night, you were too tired to stand up straight, so I carried you to your bed, and."

"And what?"

He shrugged. "We kissed."

"And?"

"And nothing, at least not for about three weeks after that."

"So?"

"I cooked something special, and I guess it won you over," he said, smiling at her and he actually looked like he was blushing a little, too. "You were helping to clean up, and the dish shelf on the _Falcon_ is up high, and you're short, so I was putting them away, and you got mad, and you're just so darned cute when you're angry…"

She had a fairly good idea where that had led, and the evidence had taken up residence in her stomach.

She sighed. She wanted to play along. She wanted to like Han, and for him to sweep her off her feet, as it seemed he'd already done once. "Well, do you think you could cook something special for dinner tonight, and maybe I can figure out how I didn't kill you when we were stranded together alone for two months?"

"You didn't kill me because you can't cook," he told her with confidence. "Your dad warned me a long time ago."

She laughed, and he smiled, and she knew that somehow, this would eventually work.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Jade-Skywalker Quarters, 39:4:2, tenth hour**

Luke entered his, their, quarters trailing behind Mara. He was examining his surroundings, trying to figure out if he could draw more meaning from the faint familiarity with the rooms in which he'd lived for, well, a while. "How long have we lived here?" he asked as he wandered around the common room, looking at their things, handling some of the small objects that made up their home.

"Since we got married, almost two years ago. Master Kenobi pulled off a pretty incredible feat, having me knighted a few months short of being twenty. The Council agreed with him, that there was nothing else that I needed to learn, but they kind of chastised him because he pushed me so hard."

"Why did he push you so hard then?"

"Oh, he knew the score on things, and while he didn't worry too much about us while we were both Padawans, once you were knighted, it would be tempting to do things that would be frowned upon. So I was knighted within a week of you. Qui-Gon held you back until I was ready, but I don't think you noticed. He made sure that my Knighting had been approved before he just kind of off-handedly said that he thought you were about ready, and they scrambled all over themselves to get you through your trials."

"Why?"

"It's," she started, looking down at her hands, "It's bad out there. Maul isn't as concerned about hiding his presence as other Sith in the past. Probably because they were discovered with the whole mess that led up to the Massacre in the Senate. Best I understand, he figures that he can't go back to being completely hidden. We don't know what they have planned though. We find them from time to time and chase them out of their holes. There are two again, Maul took on an apprentice, and she's a nasty piece of work. She is his personal assassin but she does more than kill, she can really get into your head. That is what you had just gotten home from when…this happened. You were hunting her."

"Father hunts Sith?" Luke asked, and it was more confirming what he felt than asking, but he needed to know.

"He's out hunting Maul about as often as Maul is out hunting something. It's like he gets an itch that he can't scratch, and he runs off, even if no one knows why. He actually did that not two days after you two got back from hunting down Leia."

He put down the round crystal he was holding, "Hunting down Leia?"

"Oh, yeah. She and Han, well, the _Falcon_'s hyperdrive went haywire, and they crashed onto a planet, and then the Nav computer was so fried that they couldn't get anything out of it. It took you guys two months to find them. Your mother was worried sick. Then you guys get her home, and Anakin turns around and takes off again like nothing would stop him."

"So what happened?"

"Eh. Big epic lightsaber battle that the people of some unimportant Outer Rim Planet will talk about from now until forever, Maul caught a lightsaber on the ankle, and retreated. Anakin thinks he severed Maul's Achilles tendon, and that's why he's been quiet for so long. It usually doesn't take more than a month for Maul to find something else he doesn't trust Immolious to get for him."

"Immolious?"

"His apprentice," she said.

"How did we meet?" Luke asked, changing the subject, then regretted asking when he saw the look of sadness cross her face. "I'm sorry," he said.

"No, it is alright, it's not your fault. We've known each other all of our lives, I have no memories that I didn't know you," she said, tears welling in her eyes. "You might say that we first really got acquainted when we were five and six, in Initiate Training."

He came over to her and took her into his arms and held her while she wept.

"It's going to be ok, Master Yoda will find an answer," he said after she settled down.

"And if he doesn't?" she asked.

"We will worry about that should it happen, our focus needs to be on now."

She laughed a little, "Master Qui-Gon will be pleased that something got through your stubborn Skywalker skull."

"That's better," he said, then his chrono's alarm went off, "Time for...Jasmine's class."

She sighed. "Do you want me to show you where Jasmine's class is?"

"That might be a good idea," he said, kissing her on the forehead.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:2, tenth hour**

Padmé looked at her husband and wondered what they could do to reconcile the chasm that they were now looking at each other across. She had never faced anything like this. Confidence she'd felt earlier melted away as their children left, heading off to their various tasks for the day. When Master Yoda had retreated, leaving her alone, she felt almost panicked. "Sit down, Padmé," he said gently.

"You want to talk."

"No. You know enough about what I was," he said, and then paused, "But what I would like is for you to tell me about our children."

She laughed, relaxing, "You want to hear about the mob?"

He smiled at her, "Yes, I do."

"Well, you probably know Luke and Leia better than I do now. Elizabeth is the next oldest, then Cedric and Celia, and after them are Jaedrea, Julia and Jasmine," she started.

"I don't know about that, I wasn't around when they were growing up, Luke and I fought a couple of times, I know more about Leia's personality, or at least the persona she put forth in the Imperial Senate. Now that I think back I realize just how blind I was to the truth, she looks so much like you," he said.

"And right back to it, the bantha in the room," she said and sighed.

"What's…oh…I'm sorry Angel," Anakin said, genuine sorrow in his words.

"Its ok, Anakin. I want to hear about it, but…"

"You'd like to put it off for a while?"

"Yeah, but I don't know if I should or not," she said.

"The old bacta patch question, is it better to pull it off fast or slowly," he said.

"At least you still have that," she said with a small, sad chuckle.

"Have what?"

"Your sense of humor," she said.

"Oh, I guess Palpatine wasn't able to burn it from me entirely, which makes his failure complete," Anakin said.

"Just as he wasn't able to claim your soul completely," she said.

"He couldn't, my soul was dead, so there was nothing to claim. Not after Mustafar and I lost both of my best friends," he said.

She came over to him and hugged him, "Then what happened?"

"I found my son, and he didn't hate me, even after all the horrible things I'd done, to him, his sister, his friends, the galaxy at large. He didn't hate me, more than that, he loved me and wanted to save me. When he came to me on Endor—that was the one thing that I never expected. Not after Bespin, after Bespin I thought it would be easy to turn him to the Dark Side, he was filled with such anger and hatred and it was all directed at me."

"Why?"

"Obi-Wan told him things, you'll have to ask Luke for the details on his side, but I suspect he believed I had murdered his father, which in a sense I had," he said.

They sat in silence for a while, Padmé digesting what she'd been told. Anakin...she didn't really know what he was doing. He wasn't a quiet Jedi, but he was still a Jedi, and Jedi could be unnaturally still, when they wanted to be. She saw echoes of the way he looked just now in the way Cedric looked almost every day.

"What was the hardest thing you had to do?" she asked, she knew the answer would be some unspeakable horror, but nothing really prepared her for his answer.

"The earliest moments were the hardest for me. Right after I yielded to Palpatine's teachings, he sent me here, to the Jedi Temple to slaughter all of the Jedi here; a proton torpedo would've done the job much more neatly. He wanted to drive me closer to the Dark Side, which is why he sent me to do the killing myself. The other excuse he used is he wanted the Jedi archives intact, but not once did he ever go into them, he never had the building destroyed, he just left it sit as it was. I never knew why," Anakin said.

"That must have been horrible, killing those you were as close to a family you ever known."

"Yes, that was hard, but the hardest thing wasn't that, they fought back, they could defend themselves, the younglings…they couldn't…and…" Anakin lost control then and wept openly in huge racking sobs.

Padmé put her arms around him giving him what comfort she could, then she said, "But you stood by as they were slaughtered."

"No, you don't understand…he ORDERED me to do it. And I did, every last one, every youngling that had received any training, the first ones I found were hiding in the Council Chamber," his voice faltered a little, "One of them came up to me and asked me what they were supposed to do, that there were too many of them. I didn't respond, I couldn't, if I had said something I wouldn't have been able to do it," Anakin said and started crying again. "Most of the Jedi died at my hand, not at anyone else's. I didn't watch, I killed."

Padmé couldn't believe the horror he'd been through, true it was a hell of his own making, but she only felt sympathy for him, she didn't know if it was because all of the Jedi he had killed in the other time line were still alive, or if it was her own brush with the Dark Side, all of those years ago, that made her understand.

"I need to know one thing, Anakin," she started, choking down her own tears, "Why, why did you surrender to him? What hold did he have on you to cause you to turn your back on everything you believed in?"

"I was afraid…I was the most scared I had ever been in that moment. So much for the Hero with No Fear, I was the biggest coward there ever was and it cost the galaxy…nearly everything," he said, having nearly emptied his body of tears.

"You were afraid? Of what?" Padmé asked, not expecting this answer from her husband.

"Of my dreams. I had one of you, dying in childbirth, just after you had told me you were pregnant with Luke and Leia. I was afraid you were going to die, and I sold my soul to prevent it, and it didn't. The whole thing was for nothing. I assume you died in childbirth," He said.

She kissed him then and held him tight, wanting to protect him from the pain, and knowing only too well that it wouldn't be enough and she wept for him and for herself, and the terrible thing she almost did.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Initiate Lightsaber room, 39:4:2, tenth hour**

Luke and Mara watched as Soara Antana led his littlest sister's Lightsaber class. Mara had been helpful providing the information he needed. That morning they all had decided that the fewer people knew about what had happened, the better. Mara led him to the prospective gallery.

"Why are they nervous? I can feel the tension down there," he said.

"They think you are here to pick a Padawan. It's traditional to take one as soon as you are knighted, but you've been busy hunting down Immolious, you are overdue, and they know it," she said, then sighed. "Come to think of it, I am, too."

Master Antana put them through drills then paired them off. Jasmine did well enough in the drills, but when it came to one-on-ones, she faltered. He was saddened to see the bright, confident girl that he knew she could be, so scared of the rest of the world that she could barely defend herself. Master Antana came over to them, still watchful of her class. "Don't you have enough to do, chasing the Sith down for the Council, my young Jedi friend, without taking a Padawan on?"

He smiled at her, truly smiling for the first time that day. "No, we came to watch Jasmine. Is it always like this? She's so timid with her opponents."

"I'm afraid so. I haven't told your father yet, but I'm not sure she's cut out to be a Jedi. MedCorps is still something viable and useful that she could do with her skills, and she wouldn't be required to take up a Lightsaber, ever again."

"Has she said anything?"

"What do you mean, Luke?" Mara asked.

"Has she said anything about not wanting to be a Jedi? Or anything else that might give us a clue to why she isn't trying," he replied.

"You've picked up on that. She hasn't said anything about it," the Lightsaber Master told him, "but you know how little she says on any subject."

"Hmmm…she was outspoken enough this morning." Luke said, concern leaking out.

"She never puts more than two words together at a time if she can get away with it. It may be different when she's around you, and it's been better since Jaedrea and Julia have been Padawaned, but she's still painfully shy."

"That doesn't sound like the Jasmine I know," he said, intending to go further with his thought, but not sure where to start.

"She's lucky to have a brother that cares so much for her well being," Master Antana said.

Luke blushed, and fumbled for a coherent response, "I try," he said finally.

"It's different with the triplets than it was with Leia and Liz; he was nearly grown when they were born," Mara supplied, saving him from an embarrassing situation.

"She idolizes you, Luke. I think she thinks more of you than she does your Father."

"I don't know about that," Luke said.

"She's closer to the other two-thirds of Team Trouble," Mara said with a chuckle. Luke smiled at his wife; maybe his relationship with Mara would come into focus after all.

They watched in silence for a few minutes as Jasmine parried perfectly every attack her opponent threw at her, but never once did she go on the offensive. Luke watched with disturbed interest as the duel went on far longer than it should have. He lightly touched her mind and felt what she was thinking; her thought process was very similar to his when he dueled with an opponent. He knew instinctively she should be able to wipe the mats with any of her class mates. Something was holding her back though.

_Jasmine, what are you doing? _He projected his thoughts to her through the Force.

_LUKE! You came! I was afraid Mara might steal you away since you've been gone so long. _Jaz sent back, not bothering to look in his direction, although he knew that she could tell very well where he was.

_She's here too, but you haven't answered my question. What are you doing? You are better than this; you could've ended this duel in five seconds. _

Jaz visibly faltered after that and her opponent nearly got through._ Are you mad? _Jaz's tone sounded upset.

_No, Jaz. I'm not mad, I am curious. _

_You don't like it though, I can feel it. _

_No, I don't like seeing you perform below what you are capable of. If you were to do this as a Knight, innocent people could be hurt, or worse, you could be hurt. _Luke told her, letting his concern through as well.

_I just don't want to hurt Tolin's feelings. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. _

_Is that all?_

_Well, that and I don't think I would learn as much if I ended the fights quickly like Jae and Jul do. They humiliated their opponents. Not meanly, but just by wanting to be the best and trying to outdo each other, and wiping the floor with people in the process._

Luke smiled at that, feeling pride well up at his sister's noble thoughts; however, it would be a detriment to her if she didn't learn when she needed to be on the offensive. _I understand now. However, you should realize that it might mean a Master doesn't choose you. Do you want to risk being able to become a Jedi? _

_I haven't thought about that. Do you think it might really hurt me? _Jaz sounded crestfallen. Luke was impressed how she was able to have such an emotional conversation with him and still keep her opponent sweating, trying to get through her defense. No doubt about it, Skywalker blood ran through her veins. However her attitude hinted at his Mother's contribution to the mix.

_I honestly don't know. Every Master looks for different things, but our missions are very dangerous and a Padawan has to be able to defend herself so she can defend others. Remember, Dad lost his arm before he was even a Padawan._

Jaz suddenly closed down her blade and just weaved back and forth avoiding the blade of Tolin. Luke could feel the frustration building in the boy.

"What is she doing?" Mara asked, but Luke just held up a finger.

_Jasmine…now you're being mean. Put the boy out of his misery. _Luke sent, and it was an order. Jaz recognized it as such, too.

_Yes…Master. _Jaz sent, respectful, not sarcastic at all, and indeed far more respectful than he had ever addressed Qui-Gon in thirteen years of being his Padawan. Jaz quickly disarmed Tolin and extinguished both blades and bowed to her opponent. The boy said something to her that made her giggle.

_What did he just say? _

_He said, 'Thanks, I was getting tired,' but you better talk to Mara now Luke. I think she's curious.._

Luke then realized something about his sister; something he KNEW was a new thought. _She's a lot more sensitive to everyone than anyone I've ever met, _Luke thought as he turned to Mara.

"What did you say to her?" she asked surprised how quickly Jasmine ended the fight once she decided to.

"I think I know what is troubling her. She's trying not to be her sisters," Luke said.

Soara eyes lit up in understanding. "Why didn't I see that before? Thank you Luke, I should've come to you when I noticed her starting things like this."

"Don't worry about it," he told her, dismissing the notion, "Before I was Knighted you had Jae and Jul down here, and after," he shrugged. "Jaz has always been in their shadow; she's used to it, and I think prefers it."

Master Antana nodded, and returned to their students, while he and Mara left to return to their quarters.

"Nice job, Farmboy, now do you think you can convince the Council?" Mara said as they walked back.

"Convince them of what?"

"To let you take her on as your Padawan," she said with a smirk on her face.

"Uh…" Luke started than stammered.

Mara rolled her eyes, "You can see so much, but you can be so blind to your own feelings, Luke. Whatever you thought to her, it got more out of her in five minutes than in all of the years she's been here."

"I just told her to not torture the boy," Luke said.

"Yes, but you were the one to get her to do it. You go talk to Master Windu, I'll go get her room ready," she said with a push in the proper direction, and left him in the hallway, feeling like he'd just been trampled by a bantha, but also knowing he was going to do as she said. It just felt right.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Room of a Thousand Fountains, 39:4:2, tenth hour**

Jaedrea was sure that Obi-Wan was keeping her from something interesting going on at home. Even Master Yoda was involved; making it a hundred times worse that she wasn't there.

"What's going on with Mom and Dad?"

"Aren't you supposed to be focusing on your lesson?"

She attempted to do so, but found herself distracted again. "What's going on, Master? I don't think I'll be able to concentrate until I know."

Obi-Wan sighed. "I don't know, but Master Yoda is taking care of it, and that means that the rest of us need to do our work, my very young Padawan. Can you do that?"

She refocused, and the idea that her master wasn't particularly worried about her father's strange actions this morning did help her to worry less, but the curiosity was going to eat her alive by the end of the day. She achieved the precarious position from which she was to be doing Force work that morning. "Why can't I go with Julia to Rogue Squadron's practice?"

Obi-Wan smiled from his position across the artificial stream in the Room of a Thousand Fountains. "You are further back than she is in your lessons, both in Flight class and in general. And I said no."

He could be about as stubborn as her father in that regard. Her father has said no immediately when she'd asked, and hadn't budged. She was hoping that, like Julia, she could get them to cave in eventually.

She concentrated, focusing on her lesson. Building rock towers was boring, but considering all of the elements that she had to control; her own body, each rock, and maintain each at specific levels, it was a good way to stretch her muscles, so to speak. Obi-Wan added in something different every time. "Bring your lightsaber out," he instructed. She used the force to do as he asked, gently drawing it to a position where she could see it, floating in mid-air. "No, behind you."

She sighed, floating it over to where he specified. "Better?"

He nodded. "Run through your Shii-Cho velocities, please," he directed.

She wasn't going to be able to do this and keep her eyes open, that much she knew.

She stretched out her feelings with the Force, closing her eyes, and the hard part of the lesson began, and after the exercises Obi-Wan came over to her.

"Very good, Jae, now I can meet with the Council."

"A mission?! Thank you, Master!" Jaedrea was overjoyed by the undercurrent of a stray thought she picked up.

"Don't thank me yet, young one, I don't even know what we've be assigned," Obi-Wan said, smiling at her assumptions.

"Yes, Master," but Jae couldn't stop grinning.

* * *

**Coruscant, Lower Levels, EDC-4077, 39:4:2, tenth hour**

Celia arrived at Emergency Dispatch Center 4077. It was in the lower sections of the great ecumenoplis. It was a poorer section of the city, and Celia held free first aid classes there in the mornings before she started the on-call portion of her three-day shift. She was pleased with her efforts, attendance was trending up and the overall feel of the neighborhood was getting brighter. The locals had started, of their own volition, a neighborhood watch program and crime in the area was down quite a bit. Her Master had been right, the mere presence of a Jedi made things better.

"Who can tell me the proper treatment, species wide, for broken bones?" she asked as her class opener, bone fractures were today's topic, in general her advice usually was leave it alone until professionals got there, but she also gave the exceptions to that rule.

A hand rose near the back, a young Twi'lek, and Celia acknowledged her.

"Leave it alone, unless it's bleeding, then treat the bleeding with pressure and call for help immediately," she said.

"Very good Eniki, I see you've been reading ahead," Celia said.

"Yes, Mistress Jedi," the young student said.

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Celia?" she asked.

"I don't know…Mistress Jedi," the young one said, this time with a small shy grin.

"I'm going to feel sorry for what ever man you end up marrying, Eniki, he'll never be able to keep up with you," Celia said, then addressed the class as a whole, "Of course, she is correct, remember the things we check on every single time, no matter the species, first are they breathing, second are they responsive, third are they bleeding…" Celia continued the class, when it was over, Eniki stayed behind.

"Did you need something, Eniki?" Celia asked.

"Yes…Mistress Jedi. I humble myself to ask this, but I have decided I would like to become a healer, such as yourself. It is presumptuous for me to ask this I know, and I mean no disrespect, but I find myself inspired by you and wish to follow and bring healing to those who need it. I know I am not worthy of such knowledge, but I was hoping that you, the sister of the Liberator would be kind enough to help one as lowly as myself," Eniki said.

Celia was nearly overcome with emotion at the simple, if elaborately worded request. It wasn't long ago that Eniki and her fellow slaves wouldn't even learn to read much less anything else. It took Celia and Master Allie nearly a full year after Luke freed them to get them to do that much, and now one of them wanted to make something of herself, tears came to Celia's eyes and she walked towards Eniki.

"I am sorry for asking, Mistress Jedi…I won't ask again," Eniki sounded crestfallen, but accepting at the same time.

Celia hugged the young Twi'lek, who stiffened. "You don't understand, I am so proud of you right now, and it would be an honor to help you make your dream a reality. When I finish my shift here I will talk with my Master about making the arrangements. You'll have to live in the Temple Complex for a while, though," Celia said.

"Live at the Temple of the Jedi? No, I couldn't impose my worthless self on a palace so grand, it wouldn't be proper," Eniki said.

"We will make arrangements then that you'll be comfortable with, but it would be easiest on you to stay at the Temple. However I will warn you, it will be hard work to learn everything you need to know,"

"I will do my best not to waste your efforts on my behalf," Eniki said.

"You will do fine," Celia paused and looked on her datapad, "Ah I do have it!" Celia pressed a couple of buttons on the datapad, " There you go, some reading for you to do, it's a list of all the classes we offer at the Temple. Someone will help you choose which ones you'll need," Celia said.

"Thank you so much, Mistress Jedi," Eniki surprised Celia by hugging her and Celia could feel tears fall on her shoulder.

* * *

**Coruscant, Senate Rotunda, Canthreta's Office, 39:4:2, tenth hour**

Cedric walked into Canthreta's office. "You're late," she said to him without looking up.

He glanced at the chrono, which said 10:01. "My sister's leaving for a couple of months."

She looked up at him. He knew what she saw, because he was his father made over on the outside, but rough, unfinished, still the boy, not yet the man he would become. "Well, I suppose you aren't too late. Come on, we've got work to do."

"Certainly," he agreed, fascinated by the process of running the government, despite his distaste for her and her ideals. Canthreta seemed to think that the Republic's whole reason for existing was to enrich her own system. As a whole, Cedric was becoming dissatisfied with the way the Republic was structured.

Too much needed work was undone by amendments to good pieces of legislation, and either the amendments ruined the bill, or prevented its passage, he'd learned a harsh lesson since he started working here, the senate was more of a jawa trading post than a civilized place of debate and deliberation. Master Shaak Ti had been of tremendous help in those early days when he'd been so disillusioned. Now he found that he enjoyed the process and found that by being loyal to Canthreta he was able to influence her in a direction of what was good for the Republic as a whole. She gave him his first assignment of the day, and as expected it was more bantha swapping. He was impressed that she trusted him this much; he was to open negotiations with the Chancellor herself. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad —at least he would get to see his mother.

He gathered what he would need for the meeting, in case his mother could see him immediately. She would if it were something personal, but for this, she treated him just like any other intern, so he had to be specific with his mother's secretary. He hurried, because there was always something else to be done, and he did like his duties, even though few others understood why. When he walked into her office, he found her secretary there, and he barely kept himself from rolling his eyes as she started primping. It wasn't that she wasn't attractive, nor was she too old for him, or even that he was still a Padawan. It was HER, and the fact that after a full year she was still in his head. He was in love with HER and didn't want to admit it, not to anyone, but especially not to himself. If the best happened, Luke or his father would find her and finally kill her, at least that was what he told himself. He couldn't quite shake the feeling there was another option. He was to Arrana's desk before he realized it.

"Good morning, Cedric," Arrana, his mother's secretary said, trying for professionalism, at least. "Your mom canceled all of her meetings today, but you would know that, so are you…here to see me?" she asked, the hope in her voice was almost too much for Cedric to take. She was a nice girl, and he really didn't want to hurt her feelings. She was attractive enough, but every time he considered asking her out, he felt like he was cheating. He didn't have to ask himself on whom.

"I'm sorry Arrana, I was here to see my Mother, official business for Senator Canthreta. She didn't say anything this morning about not coming in," he said, concerned, this morning had been…uneasy, and the unease, now that he thought about it was centered on Leia, Luke and Dad.

"Oh, I hope she's ok. I really like your mom. Would you like company when you check on her?" she asked.

"I don't think it's anything that serious, thank you." He said, and bowed. He only barely got turned around when Arrana called out to him, "Yes?" He responded.

"I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me today," Arrana asked, and he gritted his teeth. This was the first time she'd been so bold and Cedric could feel her fear of rejection. He closed his eyes, fighting to keep the pained expression off of his face as he turned around again. One of the more useful stereotypes of Jedi was that they communed with the Force to decide what to have for breakfast, much less anything more important. Maybe it would take his mind off of _her_.

"Yes, Arrana, I think that I would," he said, and without warning she hugged him.

"See you at lunch then, Cedric," She said, happiness rolling off of her. Cedric hoped he wasn't making a mistake as he took his leave of her.

* * *

**Coruscant, Flight Proving Grounds, Special Divisions area, 39:4:2, tenth hour**

Julia stood with her arms folded across the chest of her flight suit and leaning against the doorframe of the entrance to the Temple, waiting for Zev Senesca to land his ARC-170. The co-pilot's seat was empty, but that wasn't unusual. When Rogue Squadron was on flight ops, they rarely had co-pilots, since the main duty of the co-pilot was gunner.

"You're late."

"You've got funny ideas on how to treat your ride, Nic."

She rolled her eyes. Commander Dreis officially had no idea who she really was, other than the fact that she was too young to join. She had begged him to be allowed to fly training missions with them, and that permission had been granted, provisionally, but she'd had to get Master Tiin to sign the papers to let her out of school, and to make it more or less official, though the choice of Rogue Squadron to use her middle name had stuck. It also helped to continue to keep her anonymous, so she didn't try to get them to stop. It wouldn't have made any difference anyway. "What's the idea for today?"

"Test flights, vetting out new people to fill a slot on the Squad."

"Really? Who's leaving? And why?"

He grinned. "Behave and I'll tell you on the way home."

She looked at him, a little mad because she knew she wouldn't be able to wheedle any information out of him that he didn't want to give her without doing things that would be considered unethical, and that would get her kicked from the squad faster than anything else, not to mention any punishments that her father and her Master would inflict upon her. "I'll hold you to that," she told him as she climbed into the ship.

"You're getting paired with one of our members and one of the new guys we're vetting. We have seven wings going out today."

She did the math, and asked, "Who's getting two newbies?"

"You're too smart for your own good," he said, then after a moment's silence, he continued, "Dreis is taking two out. They're top of the list, but neither of them have flown with Rogue before."

"Have any of them?"

"No."

"Why are you vetting out so many?"

"We get through them faster, partly."

"How long is the list?"

"Over a hundred that meet the initial qualifications, and about half that can perform consistently in sims, so…"

"Nothing like a little one-on-one with the boys," she finished for him.

"Nope, nothing like it," he said, and he jumped them into hyperspace to meet up with the rest of Rogue Squadron.

* * *

**Coruscant, Transport landing pad, Transport **_**EA-39W**_**, 39:4:2, tenth hour**

Liz slung her personal bag over her shoulder, taking the suitcase in her hand, it being full of Jedi robes and other items she didn't need until she made planetfall sometime the next day. The captain himself had shown up to escort her around the ship, and she was finally being shown to her cabin. "Thank you," she said quietly, and he left.

She gratefully stowed the suitcase under the small bed, and sat down on the edge of the bed. She pulled out her comm, considering calling someone before she left. This was her first totally solo mission, which was usually one of the steps that would lead up to her knighting. She was excited by the prospect, but also felt rather alone because it was usually her Master in the bunk opposite her, rather than some unknown person, or perhaps she would be left alone, she didn't yet know.

She put her comm away, knowing that calling her master would only get her a stern but loving lecture, and trying to catch Fel-Gin would be chancy. She loved him, and she was sure that he loved her as well, but they were caught in the same situation that she had watched Mara and Luke endure. Their hearts told them to fall in love, but the rules said that they couldn't do anything about it. Yet. When she thought of it, her ears still burned from the lecturing tone that had come out of Leia and Han getting stuck together, too far off to sense, so they couldn't figure out exactly where she was. Not even Luke.

Luke had been acting strangely that morning, but perhaps it was just the idea of becoming a father. She got out her comm, knowing that she needed to talk to him before she left. "Hello?" came his curious reply.

"Hey, Luke, just wanted to say congratulations before I leave."

"Thanks. When are you getting back?"

"It'll be a couple of months. Hopefully I'll do better than I did last time."

He laughed, and it felt good to hear him laugh. "I've got to talk to Master Windu now, so I'll talk to you when you get back."

"Ok, Luke, love you."

"Love you, too," he said and the comm shut off.

The warm interaction should have comforted her, but there was something off. He didn't sound worried to be talking to Master Windu, he sounded happy. That, and the thanks after her congratulations sounded a bit forced. Maybe it was trying to be normal within the family the morning after getting back from a three-month hunt for Immolious, but she didn't think that was quite it. There had been this tension inside him at breakfast that she'd never seen in anyone before, and, while his act was good, he wasn't comfortable with Mara. That distressed her, and though she knew she wouldn't be able to do anything about it, she knew who could.

Her comm was out and on before she took much more time to think about it. "Hello?" her older sister's voice answered. That wasn't how she normally answered either, and it added a level to the worry that she was already feeling for Luke.

"Something's wrong with Luke."

She paused. "He seemed perfectly alright last night."

"Leia, you know him better than any of us. Are you SURE he's not acting strangely?" she asked.

"What have you noticed?" Leia asked.

She sighed. "He sounded happy about going to talk to Master Windu," she said, suppressing a shudder.

"He hasn't done anything to warrant the man's wrath," Leia told her, and she knew it to be true.

"True, but he's always acted jittery around him," Liz said. There was a long pause on the other end, "Leia, something is wrong, I can sense it," Liz said, then heard something mumbled into the comm. "Leia?"

"There is nothing wrong with him that you need to worry about, trust me. I need to go, Han's waiting for me," Leia said.

"See you when I get home."

"Sure. I'll take you to dinner or something."

"I'd like that," she said, and then the comm went dead again. She sighed, and tried to put her brother's problems out of her mind; but she couldn't not with her sister acting even more strangely.


	4. A normal day

**AN: I have re-uploaded this because I erased it accidentally. Whatever author's note was here before is gone :(**

* * *

Chapter 3

* * *

**Askaj, Temporary Centralized Medical Facilities, Jedi Individual Quarters, 39:4:2, very early morning local time**

Aayla Secura woke in a cold sweat. Her Padawan was _gone._ Not in hyperspace, not dead, _please, no,_ just _gone._ She was still working on Askaj, relief efforts, cleaning up after the planet had been engulfed in a civil war. Leia's return had been forbidden by the Council due to the combination of her pregnancy and the use of biological weapons by the Askaji militaries. Both sides had ended up using them, and the planet was suffering.

She was out of bed and into her robes before she could think much beyond her immediate goal of figuring out what had gone wrong. The comlink went unanswered, furthering her panic. It was at least midmorning on Coruscant, and Leia never went anywhere without her comlink. Before she could decide whom she could call, the unit signaled her attention. "Master Secura here," she said into it, knowing that it wasn't Leia on the other end, but not sensing anything else.

"Upset you are," the gravely voice on the other end chastised her.

"I cannot feel my Padawan through the Force," she said, her voice on edge.

A sigh. "To Coruscant you shall return. Discuss this we will, before your Padawan you seek."

"Why?"

"Discuss that we will."

"Master Yoda."

"No. No more will I say. Trust me you will. Come home you will."

She sighed, closing her eyes against the threatening tears. There was little she could do in the face of what was tantamount to a direct order. "Yes, Master."

"Good. See you I will, tomorrow?"

"Yes, Master, I will be home tomorrow."

"Good. Little time there is."

That scared her more than anything else that he'd said. "I'll hurry."

The comlink went dead in her hand. "Hey," a familiar voice said, and she felt hands lightly on her shoulders. "What's up?"

"Something's wrong with Leia," she said, and she leaned back into the broad chest that the voice belonged to.

"What's wrong?"

She shrugged, knowing he would feel the movement. "She didn't answer her comlink. I'm going home." He wrapped his arms around her, and she fought the impulse to break down and cry. There shouldn't have been any reason for Leia to not answer her comlink; there shouldn't have been anything wrong with her. She was already on lightest duty with her pregnancy—unless something had gone wrong there, but if it had been just that, she was sure that Master Yoda would have told her. She also was sure that it wouldn't have been Master Yoda contacting her, but Master Allie, or one of the other Healers. She let him hold her until she was sure that she could stand on her own. "I'm scared, Quin," she told him as she leaned into him, wanting to forget for five seconds that she was scared out of her mind.

"I know. Go on, you need to get to her; if it's upsetting you this much, you won't be any help to us here."

"Master Yoda said as much."

"You contacted him?"

She shook her head. "He got a hold of me before I could decide who to call to figure out why Leia isn't answering her comm."

She turned in his arms to face him, and watched the dim moonlight from the windows play across his face as he spoke, the gold stripe barely visible against his tan skin. "Sounds serious. Go, pack a couple of outfits and I'll make sure that the rest of your stuff is sent along in a couple of days."

"Thank you, Master Vos," she said, straightening herself.

"Anytime, Aayla," he said with a sigh as he dropped his arms, the moment gone. There were still many things that they had to work through in their joint past, things that kept them apart more than they brought them together.

She placed her hand on his chest as she moved past him. "I don't like acknowledging some aspects of my past anymore than you do."

"Now is not the time. Perhaps if I'd gotten here yesterday," he told her with regret as he trailed after her, watching her as she did as he'd asked, putting a couple of changes of clothes into a travel bag, and closing it.

"Perhaps," she said finally, "But we have had the opportunity before."

"It wasn't time yet," he said with a shrug. "Go on. There's at least one small ship out there."

She slung the bag over her shoulder, shaking her lekku into place behind her shoulders. "Good night, Quin, I'll be back later, maybe, if Leia is up for it."

"Med teams aren't your style, Aayla. I'll see you soon though," he said as she exited the room, headed for the door, and one step closer to her Padawan, to finding out what was wrong.

"You sure?"

"Call it a hunch," he said, leaning easily against the doorframe to her now-unoccupied bedroom.

"Alright, then. Soon," she said as she hitched the bag higher on to her shoulder and headed out the door and walked across the field to the area where the Jedi vehicles had been parked.

* * *

**Garos IV, University of Garos, guest rooms, 39:4:2, shortly before dawn, local time**

Ahsoka Tano woke to the buzzing of her comlink. "Sithspit," she started, then glanced over to see if her Padawan was still asleep. "What could be wrong now?" she grumbled as she got out of bed, grabbing the cylinder tightly to quiet it down.

She slipped out of the room they had been provided for their mission. "Tano," she said into the device as the door closed behind her.

"Long enough it took you to answer."

"I was sleeping, Master," she said contritely.

"Harrumph. Need you, your master does," the gravelly voice sounded concerned.

"Master Skywalker? What…" the question died as the dream she'd been having when she had woken surfaced in her mind. It had been recurring on and off over the last year. Master Yoda had been promising that Master Skywalker would be able to explain her visions, when the time was right. "It's time, isn't it?"

"Yes, young one. Need your help Young Skywalker will, much more than you have needed his," he told her.

"The last time I talked to him about these visions, he was even less help than usual," she told him with a frown. She didn't run to her master every time she had a dream about him any more, but if something new presented itself, they would still talk about it.

"Harrumph. Time it was not then. Time it is now," he paused for a long moment. "Different his perspective will be."

"He's not got a clue as to what they mean, Master," she told him dejectedly. "And not understanding them makes him grumpy."

"Harrumph. Why you I send to deal with him that is. Help you to understand the dreams he can now."

She smiled in spite of the seriousness of the situation. "What about my mission?"

"Nearly complete, you said in your report yesterday. Handle the remainder your Padawan can?"

She considered. "I think so," she agreed finally. "But you might consider sending someone else just in case."

He was silent for a long moment, probably deciding whom to send. "Master Tachi, send her, I can."

She took a deep breath; relieved that the uncertainty she'd been experiencing for quite some time would be resolved quite soon. "You need me to leave immediately, though, don't you?"

"Yes, young one. Siri will ensure that your Padawan is returned to you, if finished she is when she arrives."

"Thank you, Master," she answered, and he sighed then the comlink deactivated.

"Master?" her Padawan's voice reached her from across the room; she'd been pacing again, a habit she'd picked up from her Master.

She turned, looking over the young Nautolan. "I've been recalled to Coruscant by Master Yoda, Nadina."

"What about me?" she asked, astute as always, even though she was only 16.

"You," she said, taking the girl by the shoulders and looking into her large, black eyes, "Are staying here, and finishing up."

"By myself?" she squeaked, jumping just a little, enough to make her head-tresses bounce.

"For the moment. Siri Kenobi is coming to ensure that the mission is completed."

"What if I'm done when she gets here?" she asked, curiosity coloring her olivine features. Her skin tone was brown, but with a hint of green, not like Master Fisto's dirty green coloring. If it weren't for her alien features, her skin tone made it so that she might have passed for human.

"Then you can hitch a ride home with her, with a job well done," she said, beaming. "This is the first time I'm leaving you on your own, I know, and it's kind of sudden, but I think you can handle it."

"Yes, Master," she said, ducking her head bashfully.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Council Chambers, 39:4:2, tenth hour**

Luke found his way to the Grand Master's chambers. The way hadn't changed in thirty-six years, even though the Grand Master had. He hesitated outside the door, not sure exactly what he was supposed to be saying. Mara had told him that he should take Jasmine on as his Padawan, and he trusted the words—the Force was telling him much the same thing. But it wasn't like he knew her or that he knew even the most basic things about training someone else in the ways of the Force—ways he had yet to master himself. The door opened just as he resolved that he could take care of it some other day. "Come in, Luke. I did want to talk to you, anyway."

"Yes, Master Windu," he said, trying for humility, but it was hard to talk to someone that he'd talked to less than a full day ago, and had aged over thirty years in the meantime.

"I'm sure that you have some questions," Mace started.

"The one question that I really want an answer to is will I figure everything out?"

"That's really the one question I can't answer. Master Yoda is hopeful."

"I didn't think you could," he said, bowing his head. "That's actually not what brought me here," he said.

"Oh?"

Luke sighed, "I had something of an interesting conversation this morning. I think that I want to take a Padawan."

"Unless you have a specific reason to do so now, I would suggest you take some time to readjust yourself before you make a decision that big."

"Ordinarily, I would agree with you, but because of who it is, I thought it might be something to consider now."

"Why?"

"Because I feel that she can help me as much as I can help her."

"Who?"

"Jasmine."

"Your sister?"

"Yes. She is a reluctant student at best when she is around anyone, except me. I think I can help her, and in turn, she can show me what I need to know."

"I will consider this. She is something of an anomaly here. Were she anyone else's child, I would have had her sent to Alderaan."

"What?" he asked with a small laugh.

"Well, the Temple on Alderaan, much like the Alderaanian people themselves, is committed to non-violence, even to the point of having abandoned the lightsaber as their main weapon. You should visit there at some point. It is enlightening," Mace told him.

"So what makes you think that you are a special exception to Jasmine's way of dealing with the rest of the world? What insight can you give me to make her lack of performance not an indication of inability?"

He thought about how to phrase what he wanted to say for a few moments. "She simply doesn't want to be the way that her sisters are. She is an incredibly sensitive child," he paused, but felt the need to elaborate. "She is very highly sensitive to the emotional states of those around her. It is difficult, if not impossible to hide strong emotions from her. I'm not saying she understands them correctly, all the time, but she knows that they are there."

"You believe that this explains her lack of apparent ability, especially in something as vital as Lightsaber combat?" he asked.

"I believe so. She performs well below her potential, for fear of hurting the feelings of those in her class."

"Can you correct this? This belief, while it may serve her well in some situations, is disturbing if it cannot be reigned in."

"I believe that she can be one of the most powerful Jedi to ever walk these halls. She can learn when it is acceptable to act in the manner that she has been and when it is not."

"Have you ever watched her in combat? She does not take the opportunities presented to her to end combat, until both combatants are worn out."

"She can end a battle any time that she chooses to do so," he countered. "She explained to me that she feels that she is learning more by not ending the combat so soon."

"A radical view for one so young," Mace told him.

"She does have a point," he defended her, "and it is valid. She takes direction well, much better than I did at her age. And I agree, she is reticent, but I believe that with a little encouragement, she will have no problems adapting to her life as a Jedi. She's used to being in the shadows, but she will be able to stand on her own as well, I think."

"I will think on this. If this is the Will of the Force, I believe that it won't take long for that to be evident," the Korun master told him, settling into meditation.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Room of a Thousand Fountains, 39:4:2, tenth hour**

Anakin kissed Padmé goodbye as she was finishing getting ready for her day and decided, since he didn't have a planner like his wife did, to go for a walk. He was thinking, though just about everyone he cared about would have described it as brooding. As he walked he kept seeing faces, faces that for him were long dead, either in the war, or by his own hand. He kept pulling at his memories, hoping that something would snap and the nightmare that was his life would be gone, replaced by what surely had to be happier memories. He couldn't remember the births of ANY of his children, he couldn't remember them growing up, hell, he couldn't even remember their names. He didn't deserve this, not any of it. He knew it; this life was too perfect for him to have earned it. He sighed, as he turned a corner and almost ran into Obi-Wan.

"Anakin!" Obi Wan shouted, surprised.

"Forgive me, Master," Anakin said, nearly automatically.

"Of course, were you headed someplace in particular?"

"Not really, just trying to clear my head," Anakin said, sighing and starting to turn to walk away.

"Jaedrea is worried about you, even if she doesn't realize it," Obi-Wan said, falling into step beside him.

"What do you mean?" Anakin asked. He thought that Jaedrea must be one of his younger children, but as to putting a face with the name, he wasn't able to do that yet. He would be able to figure out Liz, _Elizabeth_, he assumed, and Jasmine, but none of the others, not yet, after only one brief meeting at breakfast this morning.

"She was really wanting to stay to see what Master Yoda was doing at breakfast. Indeed I must admit some curiosity to that myself," Obi-Wan paused, then, "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"What makes you think something happened?" he asked, not totally sure he was ready for this conversation.

"For starters, Master Yoda hardly comes out of his chambers anymore. Secondly, there's something different about you, familiar, but different from the way you were yesterday," he explained.

Anakin sighed, "This is almost as bad as the last time I ran into you unexpectedly."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just before the fight with Darth Maul, when he tried to assassinate Padmé."

"By the Force…" Obi-Wan said.

"Yes, and the worst of it is that the last thing I remember before waking up early this morning was the fight in the Senate and I don't know what I'm going to do," Anakin said—he wasn't crying, but the sadness in his voice nearly broke Obi-Wan's heart.

"Does Padmé know?" he asked.

"Yes," Anakin said.

"Luke and Leia?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Same as me," Anakin said.

"Are they taking it well? This timeline is very different from the one you showed me," Obi-Wan said.

"I'm not sure, we haven't had an opportunity to talk about it," Anakin said.

"Why don't we go find them?" Obi-Wan said.

Anakin sighed, " I haven't got anything better to do."

"That's the spirit!" Obi-Wan said, and he led Anakin off in search of his offspring, well the ones he remembered, anyway.

* * *

**Coruscant, Senate Rotunda, Main Chamber, 39:4:2, eleventh hour**

Padmé changed her mind about going into the office, and called her secretary, Arrana, and told her to cancel her meetings for the day. She'd seemed surprised, but had told her that she would take care of it. With that taken care of, she turned to the more important task of dealing with her husband and two oldest children. "Anakin?" she called out into the common room, then realized it was empty. She sighed, a glance out onto the empty balcony telling her she wouldn't find him easily.

She sighed, wondering where he'd taken off to, but knowing that he wasn't really in the best frame of mind right then. Since she'd taken the day off to figure out what she needed to do about Anakin, perhaps she had better do that: figure out what to do about him, and she knew just the being to ask.

She quickly gathered her courage, because going to visit Master Yoda always took that, Force-sensitive or not, and headed out the door, and down the hallway. She'd wondered when Master Yoda had taken up residence near to them why; now she knew. Skywalkers were trouble, even Jasmine. She had proven that this morning, crawling under the table and eavesdropping. The door opened at her approach; he was no doubt expecting her.

"Chancellor Amidala," he greeted her, moving slowly over to one of the meditation cushions he kept in quantity in his small quarters.

"Master Yoda," she said, and sat on one of the cushions near him as he settled onto one himself.

"About young Skywalker you are here. Guidance you seek, in handling your husband."

"Yes, Master Yoda. Is it really too much to ask, to not expect me to handle him by myself?"

"Changed he has not, in ways that will be significant."

"But he's an entirely different person!"

"Loved you, he did. Married you, he did, in defiance of the Jedi Code, add that I do. Became the Hero with No Fear, he did. Padawan to Obi-Wan Kenobi, he was. Master to Ahsoka Tano, he was. Father of Luke and Leia, he was."

"But it's not the same, there's a darkness to him now, he hasn't smiled all morning, at least not a real one," she said, petulantly, it sounded to her own ears, and she cringed.

"The same it is not agree I do. The man he ran to, in the other way of the universe, a Sith Lord, he was, when to Obi-Wan he did not wish to go. A Sith Lord Qui-Gon Jinn is not. In pain he is in, guilt, with relief. That he does not deserve this life is how he feels,"

"Because of what he supposedly done in a phantom reality? That doesn't make sense," she said, her brow furrowing as she thought about what he was saying.

"Unimportant that is, to him. His mind makes it real enough, your older children having the same memories, validates them, makes them more real to him, afraid he is."

"Afraid of what?"

"That real this is not, that his crimes have not been undone. That he hasn't been forgiven and redeemed."

"Now I feel like I'm two centimeters tall, I was worried about my feelings, when I should be concerned with his," Padmé said.

"Still the man you fell in love with he is, just more worn."

"What should I do?"

"Know that you already do, and doing it you are,"

"I don't even know which one of them to worry about more. Luke is married to a woman that he's never met. Poor Leia, she's completely untrained in her Force abilities. I'm not an expert, but I dare say Leia had more training the day before she was born than she does now. And Anakin, I don't know where to begin to talk to him about this."

"Taken care of that I have. Tomorrow Ahsoka and Aayla will be here."

"That takes care of two of them, but what about Luke?"

"Youngest Skywalker's mission, that is. If answers he cannot find with her, not far is his Master."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Solo Quarters, 39:4:2, eleventh hour**

Leia wondered what all her newly discovered husband had in store for her today. He was an odd juxtaposition of the Han that she knew, and a kind, gentle attentive husband. The man that she had thought she'd gotten glimmers of doing missions for the Rebellion, when she hadn't wanted to accept the idea that she was falling in love with him. She'd used Luke to push him away. There had never been anything going on between her and Luke, but the idea that there might be was enough to allow her time and space to figure out what exactly she wanted to do about Han. After Endor, she'd fought with him, fear overcoming her better judgment when Luke and her father had disappeared into the Force. It had hurt when he hadn't believed her that Luke was alive, even though she couldn't feel him. She had no idea how to explain her certainty that they were still there, still existing, still having a future to look forward to. That she had also been able to, albeit more faintly, find her father's life force in the same state hadn't been part of the discussion.

"What are you thinking about, Princess?"

"The last fight I had with you, on Endor."

"I didn't realize that I'd been to Endor."

She sighed. "It wasn't…"

"It wasn't me, I know."

"That wasn't what I meant."

It was his turn to sigh. "I know," he said, drawing her into his arms.

"What are we doing today, anyway?"

"Hmmm," he started, taking on an air of contemplation, stroking his chin dramatically, "I figured we'd start with lunch. I know a nice little out-of-the-way romantic restaurant," he said, teasing, drawing her into the idea with his words.

"Hmmm," she considered, tapping her lips with her fingers as though she were considering, but he caught the laugh in her eyes, and started laughing.

"Let's go," he said, capturing her hand away from her mouth and pulling on her arm. She gave in to the giggle that she was fighting, and let him pull her up, and he got her cloak, helping her to put it on. She had been able to figure out how to get dressed by herself. Jedi robes weren't anything near to being as complicated as some of the outfits she'd worn as a Princess.

"Where are we going?" she asked him, and he told her the name of the restaurant. "I've never heard of that place, it sounds nice," she told him, and his face fell.

"We had our first dinner there after we were married."

She sighed, and they were quiet until they arrived at the doors to the restaurant. "I'm sorry. I know this must be as hard for you as it is for me," she told him, and snuggled into his chest. He hugged her to his chest, and then they went inside.

"Good afternoon," the host greeted them.

"Good afternoon," Han replied.

He asked, "A table for two today?"

"Yes, please," Han agreed.

"This way," the host told them, and they followed him in to the dinning area. "Your waiter will be with you shortly."

Han took her cloak from her, laying it in the booth and then they sat. "Isn't that your brother?" he asked, pointing out a couple on the other side of the room, engrossed in their own conversation.

She furrowed her brow, looking at him, then said, "That's not Luke."

"Not that brother. Cedric."

"Oh," she said, realizing that she obviously had more than one brother now. "He does kind of look like Anakin," she returned her attention to her menu.

"Anakin?" Han asked incredulously.

Looking up, she asked, "What?"

"You've never called him that before."

"And what am I supposed to call him?"

"You've always called him Daddy."

"There is no way in the nine Corellian hells that I am calling Darth Vader 'Daddy,'" she said with a shudder.

"Who's Darth Vader?"

She sighed, and she thought about what she wanted to say about Vader to him as the waiter came and prattled on about the special and Han ordered drinks for them. Once he was gone, she said, "I need a favor from you, and I'll explain Vader when we aren't in such a public setting."

"Name it," he said, spreading his hands wide.

"I need you to tell me about my family. You know them better than I do at this point."

* * *

**Coruscant, Senate Rotunda, Chancellor's office, 39:4:2, twelfth hour**

Cedric passed the rest of the morning doing various small tasks for Canthreta, who was in a bit of a snit because his mother wasn't coming in at all today. She seemed to feel the small piece of legislation she wanted to get worked up—a trade agreement—was more important than whatever was going on at home. As he thought about it, trade agreements had become a hot topic around the whole of the Senate. She told him that since he'd worked hard and gotten everything done, and since he couldn't negotiate the trade agreement with the Chancellor as she'd planned, he was going to have the afternoon free.

But first, he had agreed to have lunch with his mother's secretary. It was enough to make him want to skip lunch altogether and plead illness or fatigue. Then again, if he worked at it hard enough, he could have a good time, and forget about his own troubles, and still convince Arrana that nothing more was going to happen than lunch.

If he tried hard enough. That was always the kicker. He could forget if he filled his day with so much activity that he barely had time to draw breath. He could have a good time doing that, most of the time. Then there would come the moment the memories would slam back into him. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't do anything but hurt. It wasn't going to make lunch with Arrana any easier. In fact, it was going to make it nearly impossible. He took a deep breath, and opened the door to his mother's office.

"Hi!" Arrana said brightly.

"Hi," he said, hesitantly. "Are you ready to go?"

She nodded, and she gathered her purse and a couple of other items, the functions of which eluded him. "Where did you want to go?"

He hadn't thought of that. Outings with his family usually consisted of Dex's, if anywhere. His parents went out occasionally, but those weren't the kinds of places where he wanted to take her. He didn't want her getting _that_ idea. "Is there someplace that you'd like to go?" he asked, even though he knew he was going to regret it. The place she suggested just _sounded _like a romantic establishment, even though he had never heard of it.

"I suppose that would be fine, I've never been there," he said, with his best, I'm-really-dying-but-you-can't-know smile, which was about the only smile anyone ever saw from him anymore.

"Oh, really?" she sounded happy, "I think you'll like it!" Then to his horror she weaved her arm in his intimately, and hailed a cab.

"So…I work with your mother, and I see you at least once a week, but I don't really know you, beyond that you are very, very…I'm embarrassing you, I'm sorry," She said lowering her head, then to make things worse she added, "You're adorable when you blush."

That, of course, only made him blush harder. "I'm so glad my discomfort amuses you," he said cuttingly.

She flushed with her own embarrassment. "I'm sorry," she told him, ducking her head.

He sighed. "It's fine. I am not used to being in this position," he told her, hoping he wasn't leading her down a path he would later regret.

"Oh," she said with surprise. "I'm sorry, I should have realized that you don't get out much."

"I get out plenty, just not…"

Her eyes widened, "Oh," she said, biting her lip, "You don't date?"

He shook his head, and was grateful that the restaurant appeared in front of them. She paid the cab driver, and they got out. She had at least taken the hint, and didn't try to take his arm again. "Shall we?" he asked, gesturing to the building.

She nodded, and they made their way inside. "Good afternoon," the host greeted them, and after murmured responses from both of them, he asked, "A table for two today?"

"Yes, please," Arrana said agreeably, and the host nodded, turning and walking into the dining room, his hand pulling two menus from their holder on a wall as he passed them. This restaurant, unlike most, didn't have any sort of technology at the tables, and while there were a few scattered tables with chairs in the center, the majority of the tables were deeply set booths with wide dividers. Cedric nearly groaned when he saw the solo musician making his way through the tables and at each of them were couples staring at each other the way his parents did sometimes, usually just before retiring to their room. Leia called it their baby face; he was thirteen when he finally figured out the reference.

"Your waiter will be by momentarily," he said, setting the menus down on the table, and he went back to his post.

She settled into one side of the booth, and he sat down in the other. The tables were small, probably so that couples could look deeply into one another's eyes or some such rot. He opened the menu, wondering what he should order. Nothing on looked familiar to him, and he didn't really want to ask her opinion, but he was going to have to. "What is good here?"

"Hmmm," she contemplated for a moment before answering. "I think that the traka fed bantha steak sounds really good."

He considered. It didn't sound bad. "That sounds good," he agreed, and the waiter came over at that moment.

"Good afternoon, my name is J'oun and I will be your server today. The chef has today fresh rump of malla, topped with Nobi mushrooms, and drizzled with topkaberry wine sauce. Radalet salad and roasted traka turnips accompany this, and might I interest you in our wine list? I recommend the Alderberry fausta; you will not find a finer Alderberry wine anywhere but Alderaan itself, " he said pleasantly, holding a datapad. He was a foppish human with dark hair and eyes.

"Water," he said, not trusting any of the other drinks. Besides, he liked water. The waiter took one look at his robes and wisely didn't question him.

"Don't you want anything else?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "I don't normally drink anything else, it's a Jedi practice to live simply."

She ordered something he'd never heard of to drink; the waiter thanked them and left them to consider the menu.

"So what do you think, Cedric?" she batted her eyes at him.

"I really don't know what is good here, so can you order for both of us?" Cedric fought not to wince at her obvious happiness at his request.

"Of course, Cedric!" she said sounding very enthusiastic, then her face fell into contemplation, "Jedi are allowed to eat meat, aren't you?"

He shook his head nearly imperceptibility, bemused at the rumors surrounding the Order, "We are allowed to eat meat, indeed some Jedi are of carnivorous species."

"Really? I think I've learned more about the Jedi in the last twenty minutes than I knew in my whole life."

"You work with my mother, why don't you know more?" he asked.

"We really don't have time to really talk about that kind of stuff. Besides, I didn't want to offend her with my curiosity."

Cedric nodded, his opinion of her going up for the first time since this foolish exercise started.

"I'm really glad you agreed to come with me today, Cedric. I've been working up the nerve to ask you for months now," she confessed.

Cedric sighed, not wanting to hurt her, but she was blowing it. Only his Jedi training kept him from passing the harshest judgments of her at this point. "I hope I do not disappoint," he said, his voice a bit flat.

"Oh, no. I doubt you could disappoint me, I just hope you aren't disappointed you came. I'd like to be able to do this again."

Cedric visibly winced at the thought of another meal like this one started out, but then he caught the hurt look on her face.

"You are, aren't you?" she asked, her voice sad and small. Cedric kicked himself for losing control of his expressions, he was counting on his finely honed sabacc face to get him through this without hurting her, "You seem like a nice girl, but…" he paused to collect his thoughts into coherent language, before he could resume, she spoke up.

"But you really aren't interested," she sound like she was about to cry.

"That isn't what I was getting ready to say, I don't know you well enough."

"No, Cedric. It's ok. You are entitled to your feelings," she said and started to get up.

"Wait, please?" he said.

"Why? You hate me," this time tears did start to flow.

"I never said that. I'm just not…comfortable here," he said.

"You don't have to do this," she said.

"Yes, I do. I haven't been fair and I know it. I would like to get to know you," he said, actually meaning it.

"Really?"

"Yes," he said, taking her hand, "Now pick us out something to eat and we can salvage the rest of our lunch."

She sat back down, but he could tell that she wasn't nearly as confident and when the waiter came back, she proceeded to order what he had recommended.

"Excellent, sir, madam. Would you care for the soloist to come by to set the mood?" he asked, but she shook her head, and he left, picking up their menus and heading off to some other part of the restaurant.

They sat there in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes then Cedric spoke, "So…you work with my Mom? Are you thinking about a career in politics?"

"I'm not sure. It's interesting work, but I don't know if I'm suited to it or not," she said, her voice starting out quiet, then getting stronger.

"Do you have any other ideas for a career?"

"Nothing definite, I like helping people, but some of the beings your Mother deals with…I think I'd rather sleep with a Hutt."

Cedric chuckled, "I know what you mean, I work with one of those types."

She smiled, "So what about you, you're going to be a Jedi, why are you here?"

"To learn; we are supposed to be defenders of the Republic, it helps to know just what it is that you are defending."

"Who is your Master? Your father?" she asked.

"No, he's not. It is forbidden for parents to take their own offspring as a Padawan. My Master is Shaak Ti," he said.

"Oh, do you like her?"

"Yes, I do. She's a very good Master," he said.

"Is she pretty?" she asked.

"Shaak-Ti? Yes, she a very beautiful woman," Cedric said, suddenly confused by this line of questioning.

"Oh…" Arrana's face fell just a little.

Cedric looked at her for a moment, then in a flash realized what she was thinking, "No, no. She's beautiful, but she's older than my Father. There is nothing between us that way at all, in fact I don't want to think how many whacks with a gimer stick that would earn the Master foolish enough to let something like that happen."

She brightened at this news, "Gimer stick?"

"You'd have to know Master Yoda, I know my Father has been on the receiving end of that more times than he'd care to remember."

That got her to laugh out loud, "The Hero with no Fear gets beaten?"

Cedric shrugged. "He used to anyway, my Dad is kinda reckless, and Master Yoda doesn't care for reckless."

The food came then and they sat in companionable silence, and as they ate, Cedric would look at her. She was beautiful by any standard, and in spite of himself he found himself wondering. However as soon as he did, the old familiar pain of guilt hit him, he fought it down fiercely. He didn't owe HER any loyalty. In fact on more than one occasion, Master Ti had expressed concern that he felt that way. He shook his head, no he didn't owe the Sith anything. He was enjoying himself, something he never dreamed possible and he was going to encourage Arrana in pursuing him. Nothing overt, nothing forward nothing like in the sappy holodramas his sisters enjoyed so much, just an acknowledgment of a new formed friendship. He looked up from his meal, and his eyes met Arrana's. She smiled and before he knew it they were leaning towards each other, just before their lips met he heard a VERY familiar voice.

"There you are, my Padawan. I hate to interrupt your meal, but we've been summoned before the Council," Shaak Ti said. Arrana, audibility gulped and blushed ferociously, Cedric just knew his face was about the same shade as hers; kriff, it was probably the same shade as his Master's.

"Yes, Master," he managed to say around his discomfort.

"My apologies, miss for having to take him away, I'm sure he will make this up to you when we return," Shaak Ti said to Arrana, and Cedric picked up on his Master's amusement, though he doubted Arrana would.

"Um…ah…its not a problem, Master Jedi. I…uh… know how busy you and Cedric must be. I'll see you when you get back, Cedric. I had a good time," with that Arrana bid a hasty retreat before Cedric could say anything.

* * *

**Coruscant, Lower levels, Emergency Dispatch Center 4077, 39:4:2, twelfth hour**

Celia had time for a hurried lunch before she did daily maintenance on the emergency vehicles, she was after all a Skywalker, and while not as skilled as her father she still knew what to do with a hydrospanner and was more than up to routine maintenance on replusorlifts. She tended to baby the vehicles as much as she did her patients. She was pleased that Eniki had gained the courage to speak up, to pursue her dreams, it hadn't been that long ago that Luke had freed her and her fellow slaves. The path of a Jedi wasn't an easy path, but no other job held the same joy as that of Jedi, and seeing Eniki pursue her dreams was the best reward she could ask for. . "Celajo'eskwal," someone called to her.

There were only a few of the older Twi'lek who she had been able to convince that she did not need to be called 'Mistress Jedi' all the time. So they had converted her name into the Twi'lek language, after their fashion. Thus, she had become 'Compassion through strength.' "Yes, Clarel?" she said to the older male, a Lethan, meaning that his skin tone was red, the most rare color among the multi-hued Twi'lek people, and whom she was sure the slavers that they had saved this group from sorely missed.

"I understand that you have encouraged Enikil'asteran to attempt the studies of a healer."

"I have," she told him.

"She came to you in this?"

"She did."

He smiled broadly. "It is a good thing then, that we are here. Is it true that she may be able to take classes at the place of the Jedi?"

"She will have to demonstrate that she is the most serious of dedication, and the most pure of heart, but I do not doubt that she can pass these trials."

"Will her education require payment, Celajo'eskwal?"

She shook her head. "The Temple will not turn her away simply because she has no money. That she is pursuing a dream, and will make her own life better, and by doing so, the lives of those around her better, that is enough."

"A strange concept."

"Not to most in the Galaxy, you and yours have seen the worst that the galaxy has to offer, now you have a chance to see the best."

"I think we will see that, may the Force be with you, Celajo'eskwal, Mistress Jedi."

"And with you, friend and elder of this gathering," she told him, and he inclined his head in acknowledgment. She smiled as she headed to the back of the vehicle she would be riding in today, should a call come in. She wasn't often in the front, which held two others, both professional emergency responders, but it was occasionally more interesting to sit up there. Right at that moment, she needed to ensure that everything was in order in the back, so that when an emergency arose, she had everything that she needed. Some things she laid out, some she pushed into the drawers that normally contained them. She requested extra of a few things like the gauze rolls she was a bit overly fond of using.

* * *

**Qeimat system, **_**Revelation**_**, Battle platform, 39:4:2, twelfth hour**

Julia was excited and happy when Zev's X-Wing touched down. She glanced around the hanger, finding that most, if not all of the Rogues were there. They were last, and it almost made her sigh. He popped the canopy, and it rose while one of the mynocks—the deckhands—brought a ladder over. She scrambled out of her seat, too eager to see her friends to wait. "Nic," Zev said in a warning tone.

"See you on the ground, slowpoke," she said with a giggle, and jumped the nearly ten meters to the ground, landing neatly and sprinting toward the rest of the squad. It was about the only time that she displayed anything that strained belief that she was anything other than a normal girl with extraordinary piloting skills; it was her one out.

"Nikki," Biggs said, draping his arm around her shoulder as she came up next to him while he was deep in conversation with Jek Porkins, "How many times do I have to tell you that you're going to break a leg doing that, and then you won't be able to fly for a month or more?"

"Every time, Biggs," she said, letting him ruffle her hair, permitting physical affections from him and the other Rogues beyond even what she would allow her brothers. "So who are the new people we're flying with today?"

"Well," he said with a bit of a drawl, tugging her along with him as he walked around the hanger, and away from Jek. He pointed to Wedge and Wes talking to a young man with blonde hair. "We have Tycho Celchu, he's Alderaanian. Boss is taking him out as his wingman."

"Is he good?"

"Everybody's good. S'not the point," he said, his voice somewhere between chastising and amused.

She rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant."

He smirked at her and didn't say anything for a moment. "Can he beat you, you mean?" he asked, and she nodded and blushed. "Well, he can't beat me, but I think that will come with time. I can only beat you because I've learned the trick of it, threading the needle, and racing Luke and Leia down Beggar's Canyon when we were little back on Tatooine." She nodded, and he continued, pointing to a female figure talking somewhat intimately with Theron. She had shaved her head, if she even had hair to begin with. There were some species that didn't grow hair, and would, at least from this distance, look human. "That's Plourr Ilo. She doesn't talk much, so we took the step of getting Jedi approval of her. She's pure of heart, but she's a bit closed mouthed about her past. Excellent shot, though."

"Does she have to stand that close to him?"

He laughed, and she blushed. "I won't tell your secret, not that everybody else can't see it. Your skills have yet to include a decent Sabacc face."

She blushed harder. "You haven't told Luke or anyone have you?" she asked with sudden horror.

"No, Nic, you've done a bang up job of that, yourself."

She smacked him on the arm, and, eager to both change the subject and find out more about the potential Rogues, she asked, "Who is that?" while pointing out a young female Mon Cal talking to another recruit and to Branon.

"Eh, that's Ibtisam, and that man there with her is Sarkli."

"What do you think of him?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I don't like him."

"He needs some work, I'll admit, but everyone has their flaws, Nikki. It's not something you can get around. I don't know that he will make it anyway. He's lowest on the list for vetting today, anyway."

She nodded at his reassurances. There was a pair of humans that he pointed out to her next. "Throm and Elscol Loro, married, but both good enough for consideration, at least," he told her. They were talking to a Sullustan, male from the look of him. His most striking feature was that his ears were pointed. "Dllr Nep," he said to her unspoken question. She nodded. She was going to have trouble keeping track of this many new people, and while she needed some information about each of the new recruits, she didn't need too much; it would just bog down her ability to sort through everything.

He nodded toward another grouping. Hobbie and the finally deplaned Zev were talking to a dark-skinned human with light colored eyes. He wasn't as dark as Master Windu, but he was darker than her father was when they came back from summer on Tatooine. "Tenk Lenso. The one that just walked up to them is Dak Ralter."

"He's cute," she said, and he laughed.

"Wouldn't know much about that," he said. "And does it matter? He's going to have a helmet on to hide that pretty face of his anyway."

"I know, Biggs, but I only get to escape a couple of times a week, so…"

"You think you've got to cram a whole week of living into two days. I know, I know. Used to feel that way myself. Try to cram a whole year's worth of living into the month Luke and Leia were home."

"Sometimes I feel like the only time I'm alive is when I'm here," she said by way of agreement.

He grunted acknowledgment, and said, "Piece of work talking to Elyhek is Dash Rendar. Not enough military discipline, it's nearly gotten him kicked a time or two. This is his last chance. He's good—maybe even good enough to beat some real Rogues."

She giggled, enjoying the tidbits of information that Biggs was giving her. "That good?"

"Maybe. We'll see today. He's been assigned wingman to Elyhek, which is the only reason that Elyhek is talking to him."

"Bren and Naytaan are talking to Kier Santage," he said, indicating the last knot of conversation.

"Shouldn't there be about four more if we're taking out seven wings?"

He ruffled her hair again. "Getting smart on me, are you? They'll be along, or maybe they're talking to Boss in the briefing room."

"Zev said you had a list of fifty," she informed him. "But he won't tell me who's leaving."

Biggs looked at her impassively, until an idea hit her. "A new squadron, that's it isn't it? That's why you're vetting out so many."

"Perhaps, but maybe we just want a wide selection so that we get the best person for the job."

She frowned at him, but before she could say anything else, a whistle blew from somewhere above them, signaling time to head for the briefing room.

* * *

**Bespin, Cloud City, 39:4:2**

Lando Calrissian walked through Cloud City. He loved this place and didn't want the Mining Guilds moving in on the operation. He didn't really understand why they were trying in the first place, because Cloud City wasn't a major mining concern. Surely, the minor contract he had with BlasTech for tibanna gas wasn't enough to make them drool, and the tourism portion of Cloud City's bottom line would be shut down completely if they did take over. Indeed, life on Cloud City would be very different if they did move in. Lando shook his head. He didn't know what he was going to do about it.

He headed down to the Carbon Freezing chamber where the Ugnaughts were preparing a new shipment for BlasTech. He liked to check up on these operations personally. It was a tricky operation, but the crews operating the system were professionals; they knew what they were doing. It was as the first container was done that Lando's comlink went off. He pulled it out.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Excuse me for bothering you, Baron Administrator, but there is a person that is requesting to meet with you," Lobot's voice came over the comlink.

"I'm rather busy at the moment, Lobot. What do they want?"

"She says that she is here to help us fend off the Mining Guild," Lobot said.

"Really? Well, I suppose I can meet with her. I'll be up to my office soon," Lando said and closed the connection.

He headed up to his office and entered it; there was a beautiful blue skinned female. She had red eyes and was dressed in a skintight red leather dress, one that only came down as far as was absolutely necessary at the bottom, and only came up as far as absolutely necessary at the top. The leather set off all of her curves in a way that made Lando suck in his breath and shake his head to try to clear it. This was business and business and lust mixed about as well as alcohol and business. He sat himself down behind his desk and found his eyes drawn to her bust line almost immediately. _What is wrong with me? I'm a lady's man, true, but I've NEVER been this out of control._

"Hello, Baron Administrator Calrissian. I am Sev'rance Tann and I represent an organization that originates in what your Republic refers to as the unknown regions. We've heard about your trouble with the Mining Guilds and in researching this area of the Galaxy we've uncovered some information that you can use against them," Tann said.

Lando gulped as she leaned over the desk, her raven hair dropping over ample cleavage, just meeting the edge of the dress. The effect made Lando's heart beat sound in his ears. He started sweating. "Just…ah…what do I have to do to earn this information?" Lando asked, sipping some water trying to clear his mind. He really wished he could pour the cool liquid over his head; no woman ever had this kind of an effect on him before.

"Simple, for a man of your talents and connections," Tann said, "We have a selection of weapons that we'd like to sell to some interested buyers. We need someone that they'll trust. Your name came up."

"So you want me to fence your weapons, right? What kind of weapons are we talking about?" Lando asked, already knowing what the answer was, but wanting to hear it from this intoxicating woman first.

"Ones that we've been told your Republic frowns on people having. I hope the marginal legality of our business isn't a problem for you. I like you, and look forward to a," she leaned forward, bringing her pouting lips really close to him, "close working relationship with you."

It took all of Lando's self-control to NOT kiss her right then and there. He patted himself on back mentally for maintaining at least that level of professionalism.

When he spoke, his voice was husky, "I…" he cleared his throat, "I think we can work together then, Miss Tann," Lando said. Then his senses were overwhelmed when she kissed him.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, landing pad, 39:4:2, eleventh hour**

Jaedrea was jogging down the corridor to the landing pads. She knew she should have been walking, and that her Master would disapprove, but she didn't care at that moment. They were going on a mission, and that was all that mattered to her right then. She was ecstatic, fearful, anticipatory, relieved and jittery. It had been a year since Obi-Wan had agreed to take her on a mission, ever since both of them had nearly gotten killed on Melida/Daan. She had been careful, he had been careful, but something had gone wrong. It was why they had been there in the first place. She came up to the door to the hanger then, and turned her thoughts to more pleasant ones, namely her upcoming mission.

"Jaedrea, can I help you?" one of the techs asked her.

"I'm securing a ship for a mission. We leave tomorrow."

"You sound excited," the man told her. He was young, eighteen or nineteen, and his blue eyes reminded her of her father's, rather than her own brown ones.

She nodded. She liked him, but she didn't have any idea what to do about it. "I haven't been anywhere since Melida/Daan, Geoff."

He smiled at her, an easy laid back smile that seemed to light the room. "What kind of mission are you headed off on?"

* * *

**Caamas, Jedi Temple, landing area, 39:4:3, seventh hour**

Liz stepped off the transport on the surface of Caamas at the Jedi Temple there, her piercing green eyes scanning the area, drinking in the scenery. There was one family that wanted to hear about the Temple on Coruscant from someone who lived there. This was to be their second interview. She breathed deep, letting the fresh air fill her lungs while the wind ruffled her shoulder-length brown hair, and her Padawan braid whipped around, forcing her to tuck it behind her ear. She had been here once before when she was first a Padawan; her master held that it was good for all Jedi to visit other Temples. She loved it here; the air was crisp and clean. Coruscant's air always smelled the same as the ship she just left, recycled, clean, safe breathable, and horribly sterile. She took another deep breath, relishing in the scent of the plants, the smell of the water. The only place that came close back home was the Room of a Thousand Fountains, and even that was but a pale imitation to a truly living world. Caamas was still a very wild world, its inhabitants eschewing the use of any weather control technology. It was also one of the oldest worlds in the Republic, a founding member, if the legends could be believed. Those same legends, at least to hear the Caamasi tell them, said that Coruscant and Caamas were the two finalists for the Capital world, and Coruscant lost, and was forced to take on the burden of leadership, and the destruction of its own natural environs to accommodate the needs of Galactic government.

"Welcome to Caamas, Jedi Skywalker," a voice said, interrupting Liz's thoughts.

"Thank you, Master Aloun, it is, as always a pleasure to visit your Temple and world," she responded with a respectful bow to the Jedi Master. She looked the Master over, seeing that he hadn't really changed from the last time that she'd seen him. He had a strong chin and broad nose, and his grey hair blew wildly in the wind. In any other person it would've given him a wild look, but on the Jedi Master, it merely looked natural. His eyes were sharp and dark, if it weren't for the peaceful aura he possessed he'd have looked haunted. As it was, he was as striking a figure in his own way as Master Qui-Gon or Master Obi-Wan, and just as distinguished.

She could feel the undercurrent of excitement from him that he wasn't quite able to release into the Force just then. "Yes, most Jedi from Coruscant appreciate the opportunity to get some fresh air, but you aren't here to hear my bad jokes. Come we'll get you settled in. This is very special for us, for it is rare that Caamasi even have their offspring tested, much less trained as Jedi. I think Master Yoda's reforms are having an impact here, family being so important to them," Master Aloun said as he started making the short walk toward the Temple.

"I can certainly understand that, Master. How old is the child in question?" she asked, falling into step beside him. He was only a little shorter than she, but she was tall, nearly as tall as her father.

"Harrumph, just like your father, always right down to business. What is it with you Skywalkers that you're always in such a rush?"

"I didn't mean to offend, Master," Liz said, taken back a bit at the older Jedi's bristling.

"Don't worry about it, Jedi Skywalker, you cannot be anything but what you are. However, I would brush up on your small talk skills. The art of conversation is very much appreciated here and mastered at a young age."

She hadn't remembered that, but since he'd mentioned it, the long conversations that she'd had while she had been here before surfaced. "I thank you for the advice, Master," she said humbly.

They stopped in front of a door, and Master Aloun turned to her. "Good, here is your room while you stay here. I will return in an hour to take you to the applicant's residence."

"Very well, Master, until then," she bowed in farewell and set about unpacking her minimal travel pack. She only expected to be here a few days before she moved on to her next applicant, but one never knew when expectations might get changed.


	5. Masters and Padawans

**AN: This is by far the longest chapter I've ever written. I hope this satisfies you for a time, since I haven't started writing chapter 5 yet. It is 30 pages, and so you will probably need to be prepared to devote a reasonably significant portion of time to it. **

**wbsaw:I actually agree with your assessment that Mara was too minor a character in the original incarnation of this story. Hopefully I can correct that here, and continue to do so in future chapters. **

**dhrachth:I disagree with your assessment that there are too many characters to keep track of, and I'm sure that there are some other readers who will disagree as well. The characters are well developed and delineated. As Obi-Wan says here, "They are daunting to the uninitiated," but I hope you learn to love them as much as I do.**

* * *

Chapter 4

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker hall, 39:4:2, eleventh hour**

Anakin looked at his comlink as it beeped a particular staccato. It wasn't that someone wanted his attention, for about the time he got the thing free from his belt, Obi-Wan's comlink beeped in the same manner. "Well, seems we've been summoned for the Council meeting," Obi-Wan said, and they went into Obi-Wan's quarters, rather than heading back to his own, or Luke or Leia's, as had been the intention.

He sat on the sofa, taking in his surroundings, seeing how much more like a home it felt, the things that belonged to a young teenage girl, and things appropriate to a much younger girl as well, and other things that would likely belong to a toddler of either gender. He got up and pulled one such toy from between the books on the next-to-the-bottom shelf on Obi-Wan's bookshelf.

"Well, this is going to be interesting, at least," Obi-Wan said, looking over a message on his comm panel.

Anakin looked at the blue stuffed bantha he'd pulled free from between the books. "So what did I do yesterday to warrant being called before the Council today?" Anakin asked. "Please tell me, so that I can defend myself."

"Anakin, you're on the Council," he said, and then looked up. "Ah, there is Mr. Horns. We've been looking for him for two days."

"Mr. Horns?" he asked, looking at the object in question, then back to his master. "Obi-Wan, I thought you outgrew these."

Obi-Wan smiled. "Nice to know your sense of humor hasn't been completely destroyed."

Anakin grimaced. "Bah. I wouldn't have been able to resist such an opening even as Vader."

"Be that as it may, Mr. Horns belongs to Kennis. We can deliver him on the way to the Council Chambers."

"So what is on the agenda, if not me? And who is Kennis?"

"Your daughter is on the agenda, and Kennis is my grandson."

Anakin wasn't about to add the family that Obi-Wan had to the issues he had to deal with right then, but the fact that he was obviously fond of them brought a glimmer of hope up inside of him, that maybe he could bring himself to the point of being the loving father that he wished he could be, and hoped he had been. "Oh, so we're talking to Leia?"

"No, the one on the other end."

Anakin wrinkled his brow, confused, mostly because he didn't have a good grasp of his family's structure at that moment. "And who exactly would that be?"

Obi-Wan sighed. "Jasmine," he said, then after contemplating for a moment, he said, "As you know, Luke and Leia came first. Elizabeth was born when Luke and Leia were two-and-a-half. Liz was almost four and Luke and Leia were six and a half when Celia and Cedric were born. The triplets—Jaedrea, Julia, and Jasmine—were born just over three years later."

Anakin said, "I always thought I wanted a big family, but, wow."

"They are a bit daunting to the uninitiated."

"I have to integrate my memories somehow," he said, looking Mr. Horns in the eyes, serious thought overtaking him, despite the silly and whimsical nature of the figure.

"You will. I have faith in you," Obi-Wan said, coming around to head out the door. "Besides, your younger son is next on our agenda after Jasmine."

He thought through the list Obi-Wan had just given him, "Cedric?" he asked, his mind dredging up images of a young boy, and he did quick math in his head, sixteen? who had been with the family at breakfast. He was tall, lanky, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and the saturnine countenance that seemed to plague the male members of his family. He tucked that problem away for consideration later on, perhaps with Padmé's help, perhaps with Obi-Wan.

"The same," he said, and they headed for the crèche with Mr. Horns in tow.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Initiate training rooms, 39:4:2, eleventh hour**

Jasmine was sitting in her galactic history class when Mace Windu, head of the Order, walked into the classroom. After a short discussion with her teacher, and her teacher looked rather pleased at something Master Windu said, he turned, looking straight at her and said, "Jasmine, come with me, and bring your things. You won't be back today," to which the class responded with cries of 'Skywalker's in trouble' and the like. These were almost immediately silenced by a glare from Master Windu.

_What did Jaedrea do now?_ was her immediate thought as she put her things in her carry sack. She used the carry sack because it was more convenient for her than pocketing her data discs, and she could rummage through them more quickly. After she checked to make sure that she had everything, she followed Master Windu out the door. He didn't say anything to her, but walked silently beside her, and he wouldn't let her fall into her habit of getting a couple of steps behind whomever she was with. She racked her brain but couldn't even come up with something that was remotely possible that could get Jaedrea in trouble. "What did she do?" she muttered to herself.

"What?" Master Windu's apparent shock at the question made it less likely to be about Jaedrea and more likely to be about her, or something else that she had no concept as to the reason she needed to be involved. She shook her head, and he let the question drop.

She became more nervous when they entered the level that held the Council Chambers. Mace's silence didn't bother her, not nearly as much as him wanting to actually talk to her would have. He pressed his hand into the small of her back as they approached the door. "Come on now, we don't bite."

She swallowed hard, and found every Jedi Master on the entire Council was there, including her father. That made things a little better, but not enough for her to be at all comfortable. In fact, she couldn't have been less comfortable if they had shown a spotlight on her. Her father didn't smile. Everyone else was smiling, but her father wasn't. In fact, he was looking distinctly uncomfortable. That didn't bode well for her. "Jasmine Skywalker," Master Obi-Wan said, and she turned her full attention to him, because blocking out the other Masters was the only way she was going to be able to speak, and she was sure that she would be required to speak.

"Yes?" she asked, barely whispering, though the silence of the chamber allowed those gathered to hear her.

"Do you know why you're here?"

"No," she said, even more faintly, dying that she had no clue as to their intentions with her. Jaedrea must have done something horrendous, or something, but if she'd done something, something big enough to get her drug before the Council, why was Master Obi-Wan smiling?

"A Jedi has expressed interest in taking you on as their Padawan. You are to be tested," he told her, and relief flooded through her. _That_ was why everyone was smiling. Her father wasn't because he was still in whatever dour mood had settled over him this morning, that was all. That problem was evolving so quickly that she was having trouble keeping up with what was going on, much less figuring out how to stop it. It wasn't her problem, but she still enjoyed trying to figure out what was wrong with people and how to fix them. Not that people stayed fixed, but she did like to try.

Master Windu started talking, so she turned to face him, and her attention to him as well. "We must test you to see that you have a basic understanding of the ways of the Force, so that there is something for a Master to build upon."

"Yes, Master," she said, but not as quietly as before. She was better now that she had something to look forward to. It was strange, though. There was no one that she'd talked to recently, and very few Knights and Masters had come to watch her class in the last month, but she'd dismissed them all as potential Masters. They hadn't felt right. She hoped it wasn't someone that she really wouldn't like. She would have to go through this whole thing again later if it was.

"First we will test your ability to absorb information from others," he said, and he pulled out a datapad. "There are various images that will appear on this screen. Tell me what they are."

She blinked. This really was basic. She felt out with the Force, and finding Mace's mind, she brushed against it lightly, but enough that she could do as he had requested. "Bird," she said as the first one came across the screen and into his mind, "Speeder, block, star, cup, a ship," she said, hesitating slightly on the last one. It was a bit harder to catch the image in his mind, it being more complex than the others.

"Use the Force to make this float in the air," he said, holding up the datapad he'd just turned off. She concentrated, and it wobbled afloat, and steadied once it was still. "Very well," he said, and she floated it back to his hand, and it wobbled more on the way back than it had on the way up.

He continued with her testing, and she wondered when they would get to the hard stuff. "That was the last test," Master Windu told her finally. She had performed…adequately. It was no better, nor really any worse than what happened in class, or any other situation that required her to do something with or in front of strangers. She sighed inwardly; Luke was right. If she couldn't do better than this, who would want her as their Padawan?

"We will continue this after a break for lunch. You may return at one fifteen, and find a seat in the hall outside, if the doors are not open. Your potential Master must answer some questions we have before we agree to this."

"Yes, Master," she said with a bow, about the only thing she could say without her voice shaking, and only because she'd said it so often.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Solo Quarters, 39:4:2, twelfth hour**

"Wait, so you're telling me that your carefree, wisecracking, fun-loving father is one of the most evil men in the galaxy where you come from?" Han asked Leia. She nodded, and he asked her then, "What does that make your mother?"

"Dead," she said with a shrug.

"Well, that explains that much, at least."

"I remember them, a little, but Luke doesn't. He grew up with Owen and Beru on Tatooine, while I went to Alderaan with Bail Organa, and was raised as a Princess of the Royal Family there before the planet was destroyed."

"Alderaan?"

"Yes, the Death Star, Tarkin used it to destroy my home and everyone on it."

"Tell me about it."

"The Death Star, or the destruction of Alderaan?"

"Either, both," he said with a shrug.

She recounted her time on the Death Star, and her most personal encounter with Vader, a topic that she had avoided previously, giving him generalizations about what Vader had done to prisoners. That she had survived imprisonment with him intact was nothing short of a miracle. Perhaps there was the lingering sentiment of love for her, his daughter, though he didn't know her for who she was consciously.

"That's quite a tale," he told her when she'd finished, "I can understand, a little at least, why you don't like him, and that you haven't had time to come to terms with him."

She nodded. He was trying to understand, and she was glad of it. "I wouldn't have made it without you and Luke."

She was looking out the window now, watching the traffic with a bit of wonder. This galaxy that she now lived in had never seen the Empire. The Temple had never been destroyed. She had not thought, in her nearly twenty-three years under the Empire, that she would ever stand, or even be able to stand, with in the Temple, whole and undamaged by the ravages of time. One of the twins kicked, sensing her unease, probably. "You couldn't have done it without me?" he asked, having come up behind her.

She leaned back into his chest, and felt him stiffen at her action. She knew he was trying not to push her, and she thought it was sweet, that he was trying to give her the space to get comfortable with the idea that they were married. She wasn't there yet, and she knew it, but they had been very close before, and the revelation that Luke was her brother had emboldened him to press his suit, and she had been as eager as he to see where that would lead. "I was lost after the battle of Yavin. Alderaan was destroyed, and I could push it aside, or down, or wherever it went, but after, when we were back to hiding, waiting, the weight of what happened finally settled in on me, it was hard to move, hard to breathe, and I didn't want to talk about it, I just wanted to die."

He hesitantly put his arms around her, and she squeezed his hand to let him know that it was ok. He seemed to relax after that, and said, "It can't have been easy for you to go through, watching any planet be destroyed, and to have it be the one you were raised on…" She patted his hand, then put her hands on her stomach, wishing she knew how to calm the twins. "They giving you trouble?" he asked as he noticed.

"They're doing acrobatics," she said, and he put his hands over hers, pressing a little hard, but not hard enough to hurt, and rubbing in circles. "They like that?" she asked as the twins stopped kicking her in the ribs.

"They just wanted to remind you that they're there. Can't say that I blame them. You've got a lot going on, and you haven't been paying as much attention to them as you usually do."

"So, what am I supposed to do with them? They're kind of stuck in a place that I can't really get to them."

"You do some Force things with them. I know that you won't be able to do that now, so they might get upset, but there's really not anything that we can do about that."

"How much longer until they are here?"

He shrugged. "Healers say that it's especially hard to tell with twins. You have ten weeks until your due date, but they could come at any time. Twins are usually three weeks or more early, anyway, according to the Healers, and your Mom said you and Luke were four weeks early."

"I had figured that," she said, and she sighed. "A month or more if we're lucky?" He nodded, and she turned away from the window to face him. He looked uncertain, as though he was afraid he would spook her. She sighed, and said, "Just because I wasn't married to you in the life that I remember doesn't mean I didn't have feelings for you."

"Did you have feelings for me?"

"I spent a lot of time denying it. You were a smuggler, and I was a Princess, and I was dealing with all of the emotions that Alderaan being destroyed, and fighting in the Rebellion caused, and I didn't have time to have a relationship with anyone. It was easier to push you away, keep you at arm's length than to admit that someone like me could have feelings for someone like you."

"You didn't know anything of your parents?"

"My birth parents? No, it was too dangerous, that was what my father always told me, if I asked. I could feel these holes inside myself, and I knew without a doubt belonged to people that I should be around, that I should care about and be related to. It took me a long time to be able to articulate what was going on with me, inside the Force, I suppose, and it would make him nervous when I would bring up my missing parts, as I would call them. I suppose he knew about Luke, but he never said anything.

"When Luke told me the truth, that we were twins, I understood the longing for him that I'd held in my heart for so long. I knew that he was the part that I had lost so many years ago, that I wanted back, but I had been so young when we were separated that I wouldn't have been able to understand that we were being taken to separate places, and that we would be safer that way. It's not something that I would wish on anyone."

"What?"

"Being Force-sensitive and separated from your twin. It's like having a piece of your soul ripped out."

Did Luke have the same problem?"

"His experiences were different. He knew from the time that he was very young that there were pieces of his family missing, not me specifically, but that his parents were not then nor would they ever be a part of his life. I didn't find out that I was adopted until I was older, when my mother died."

"Padmé?"

She shook her head. "She died when we were a day old at the most. Breha died when I was young, old enough to remember the time clearly, but not old enough to associate it with any particular date, or relate it to my age. I was confused, because I asked my father why this was happening again, which shocked him greatly. He sat me down and explained that my real mother had died, and being that she was a good friend of his, he had agreed to take care of me for her. I was both relieved and devastated."

"Sounds like you had a rough time of it."

She nodded. "I had a fairly normal childhood, at least as normal as one could expect for the daughter of the most powerful Force user to have lived in recorded history."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Room of a Thousand Fountains, 39:4:2, twelfth hour**

Anakin walked behind Obi-Wan as they sought out Luke. His reason for seeking Luke was now two-fold. First, checking on how his son was adjusting to Mara. He swallowed hard. Finding the Emperor's Hand coming out of his son's quarters had been something of a shock, but he hadn't been aware enough to process it, and he'd been too worried about other things. When he'd walked into his quarters this morning and she was there, smiling, and then coming up to his son, proprietarily. His son had kissed her without knowing the danger that she held inside her.

Or perhaps he was projecting too much from his memories onto the current situation. She was obviously a Jedi, and hadn't been taken from her family by the Emperor, because there was no Emperor to take her away when she was born. They had looked around for Luke, but not finding him in any reasonable place, the next place that he'd thought to look was here. It wasn't that he couldn't find Luke through the Force, but it took energy that he didn't want to devote to it to do so. If they didn't find him down here, he was going to have to. He sighed, reaching out with the Force.

"Well," Obi-Wan asked.

"He's over there," he indicated a direction.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Mara Jade," he said, deciding that honesty wouldn't hurt with Obi-Wan, at least.

"My Padawan?" he asked curiously.

"YOUR WHAT?" he almost yelled, absolutely astonished, then his teeth clicked as he firmly shut his mouth, years of training demanding near silence in this place.

Obi-Wan didn't seem to have been ruffled at all by his outburst. "My Padawan. Well, she's been knighted for two years and something now, but she was my Padawan for nine years."

He swallowed. It was as big of a shift as he could think of for her, to be trained by the same man who had given him everything, even after he had known how bad it could be, what Anakin was capable of if he were provoked into it. "I didn't know, and that rather startled me, considering what I knew of her before."

Obi-Wan raised his eyebrow. "We'll discuss that later."

"Yes, Master," he said, and at that point they found Luke. He was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed. The filtered light coming down from the ceiling ten or so meters above them showed the blonde highlights in Luke's hair, it having grown darker than he remembered from not being on Tatooine all the time. His eyes were closed as he was relaxed in his meditative state, and Anakin wished he were more able to achieve that state. After a few moments, he called out to his son, "Luke," and Luke opened his eyes.

"Father. Is there something I can do for you?"

It was Obi-Wan who answered. "Master Windu has given consideration of your request to the Council, Luke. I know you probably have little idea what that means, but at this point, your Padawan is almost certainly approved."

Luke sighed. "I'm relieved, I was wondering how much of a fight I was going to have to do to get it approved."

"You have your work cut out for you," Obi-Wan commented. "I don't doubt her ability with the Force, but she was in some of the tests barely able to perform consistent with the standards for her age."

Luke sighed. "It was nerves, I'm sure. I watched her in her lightsaber class. She responded to my directions without hesitation and with skill. I won't have as much of a problem as you seem to think, Ben."

Obi-Wan nodded, and stroked his beard for a moment. "If we are going to eat before the Council reconvenes, we had better be off. Come along, my brother."

The words struck a chord inside him, lightening his heart just a tiny bit.

* * *

**Coruscant, Lower Levels, 39:4:2, thirteenth hour**

Celia swayed in her seat as the vehicle she was riding in slammed to a stop at the scene in a speeder crash. It looked bad, and she thought that one or both of the vehicles must have been going at least two hundred kilometers an hour. The upper speed limit for the whole of the lower levels was a hundred and fifty, but even both speeders going at the speed limit didn't produce this much havoc.

Once the emergency vehicle stopped, she opened the doors, and jumped out, and the real work she was down on the lower levels to do began. The driver of the first vehicle, the one closer to the emergency vehicle, had his neck sliced open halfway to the bone, She checked his pulse, and finding none, and finding no life-force still residing in him, she said, "He's gone."

Her partner nodded, and they went over to the other vehicle. She determined that the driver was probably more hurt than the passenger, but both were still alive. She was supposed to be doing this without using the Force if possible, but she was not forbidden. It was a matter of judgment, and the idea was that if she was using the Force to heal every one of the people she encountered on a three-day run, she would be a month in recovery instead of a week, and she wouldn't be doing much of anything while she was recovering. So, unless the only way to save someone was through the use of the Force, she used her hands, and she'd learned to do it very well. As an apprentice Healer, she was more than capable of dealing with a variety of situations, and the real-world training was honing her instincts to a fine point.

She was adjusting the bracings on the Human male she was working on when she instinctually pulled out her lightsaber, lit it and blocked two blaster bolts, it didn't take her long to find the source of the blasts, two deathheads, different gangs from the look of them, shooting at each other over her and the wreck. She used one of her Father's more entertaining words, while she blocked two more bolts sending them harmlessly into a nearby wall.

"Jace, can you handle this while I take care of Dweeble one and Dweeble two?" she said, referencing a favorite children's book she had when she was a youngling.

"Go, we'll take care of them," he told her.

That was all the encouragement she needed and she Force Leapt towards the first deathhead, he took several potshots at her, all of which she deflected with ease as she flew through the air, the last bolt she sent back to him at just enough of an angle that it hit the side of his blaster, causing him to drop it. At the same instant he dropped the blaster, she reversed her grip on her lightsaber and clubbed him with the hilt, twice, once left and once right as she righted the blade to be prepared to deal with the second gang member, she didn't stay long enough to watch the first one sag to the duracrete, unconscious.

The second one was moving toward the accident—to take hostages, she assumed—and that wasn't going to play in her opera house. She used the Force to pull him toward her, while flipping him head over feet. The distance between them closed rapidly, as she passed underneath him she grabbed his weapon while beating his face in with her lightsaber hilt, the blade now off and modified his trajectory just enough that he landed in a nice soft pile of garbage. Clipping her lightsaber back on her belt she headed over to the first thug. She got there just as he was starting to come to. She picked up the deathhead, who was a full head and half taller than she was, by the front of his shirt and slammed him up against a nearby wall.

"Who do you work for, scum?" she said, her voice low, but filled with the promise of much pain if she wasn't happy with his answers. Inside she was as calm as she could be, but she was projecting pure rage, the better to get the answers she needed, she'd be damned if the bottom feeders got a foot hold in this neighborhood.

The deathhead stammered a bit, "Gardo, I work for Lulit Gardo!"

"Where can I find this Gardo?"

"I don't know," he said. She threw him to the ground hard, and straddled him. He started weeping, "I really don't know! Please don't hurt me!"

"Who hired you? You help me, and I'll help you, maybe get you a prison with an atmosphere," she said, letting her voice sound a little less menacing.

"His name is Lett…a Rodian. He just asked me if I wanted to make a few quick creds, selling deathsticks. Its easy money, except when you Jedi are around," the thug said. She took out her binders and bound his hands at the wrists, around a bank of parking timers, the binders attaching on the other side of the second timer. She turned to look for the other thug, only to find him gone. She sighed, at least she had a lead on the source of one of the scum. She returned to the emergency vehicle and called the incident in.

"I suppose you're going after who sent the genius?" Jace said.

"Yup, this is too nice a neighborhood for poodoo like him to ruin it," Celia said.

"You better call your Master about this," he said.

"I can handle a half cred gangster and his goons," she said, somewhat defensively.

"I don't doubt you can, but what if it isn't just a half cred gangster and his goons?"

"What is it to you?"

"Maybe I don't want to see you get hurt, or worse. I've gotten used to having you around Skywalker, and I don't want that to change because you ran into a gundark's nest," Jace said.

"I'm not running into a gundark's nest, I'd know if I was," Celia said.

"Are you sure? Isn't your Master Yoda always saying the future is hard to predict?"

"Are you implying that I don't know what I'm doing?" she was starting to get…upset by his badgering.

"Not in the least, but backup never hurts, besides…" Jace said, trailing off.

"Besides what?" Celia said, not hiding her frustration with the conversation.

"Ah, hell, this…" Jace pulled her forward and kissed her, full on the mouth, at first she was shocked, then surprised, at herself as she found herself returning the kiss.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Council Chamber, 39:4:2, thirteenth hour**

Luke walked into the Council chambers, finding twelve Jedi Masters assembled there. He'd felt Jasmine's presence, her uncertainty, her curiosity, as she had entered the level. He was already waiting in the antechamber when she had come in, and he was glad of it. He still had to talk to the Council, and while he could comfort her, she would distract him right that moment. "Your prospective Padawan has been tested and passed basic competencies in all areas. Do you have any questions for the Council?"

"No, Master, does the Council have any questions of me?" Luke said, following the expected forms, Mara had left him a datapad with a note to read it. It had contained the expected protocol for the taking of a Padawan. At the very least he apparently had good judgment in spouses. He couldn't imagine her being more supportive of him in this trying time. He would have to ask Ben how they met.

"Why do you think you would be a good Master to Initiate Skywalker?" Master Shaak Ti asked. He was also grateful that Mara had left him a list of the Council members and holos, as well as some things he should have known about them anyway. Shaak Ti had answered the very same question she was now asking him, because she was training his brother, Cedric.

"Initiate Skywalker has much innate talent that she suppresses. This I believe is due to her higher sensitivity to the feelings of others, with proper instruction and direction, I believe she can overcome this."

"Why do you believe you are the best one to provide that instruction?" his father asked.

"I believe that I will be able to better overcome her tendency to hold back. She already has had instruction from many accomplished Masters and none to date have had as much success in breaking down her barriers as I have since I returned from Korriban," he told them. He didn't remember the trip to Korriban, and while it was on the Outer Rim, he wasn't sure that he remembered ever having been there at all.

"Please elaborate on this success of which you speak," Master Windu instructed.

"I observed her during her lightsaber training this morning. She was sparing with a classmate and was fighting on the defensive, in spite of her ability to have ended the fight quickly. Master Soara Antana approached my wife and I as we were observing and expressed concern that she would not be chosen. I asked her why, and she indicated that Initiate Skywalker was struggling to defeat even the younger students in their sparring matches. Concerned, I touched Initiate Skywalker's mind and found that she was indeed holding back. I asked her why and she stated that she didn't want to humiliate her classmates as she felt her sisters had done. It should be noted that even with the distraction of having me speak to her through the Force, she still maintained her defense, then deactivated her blade and still avoided her classmate's blade. I admonished her for showing off and then she ended the match within seconds."

"You were able to touch her mind without having initiated a training bond with her?" Ki-Adi-Mundi asked, surprised. Apparently, it wasn't well known that they could talk to each other, though Mara had made mention of it as though she'd known for a very long time and seemed to find it useful enough on occasion.

"Yes, I find it easy to make telepathic connections with member of my family, since Initiate Skywalker is my sister, it was a simple matter."

"Which brings up an irregularity to your request, Knight Skywalker. The fact she is your sister is a matter of some concern. Why do you think she wouldn't prosper under a Master she doesn't already have a bond with?" Master Plo Koon asked.

"She is already inclined to share things with me. Initiate Skywalker is extremely introverted, and it is my believe that any other Master would have to spend an inordinate amount of time bringing her out of those behavior patterns. If I were her Master, that would not be necessary, and I feel that would accelerate and enhance her education."

"In your opinion, how would Initiate Skywalker feel about you being her Master?" Obi-Wan asked.

"It is my belief that she would be joyous to that event coming to pass."

"What role do you see Initiate Skywalker taking when she is knighted?" Master Allie asked.

"With her natural empathy, I believe she will be drawn to and excel at negotiations."

"Your own tendency is of the more physical aspects of the life of a Jedi, do you feel you would be able to bring these natural talents to flower?" Master Fisto asked.

"I believe we would learn from each other, as I work with her," Luke said, this being one of the standard responses that he could give.

"If this Council recommends against this choice, would abide by the ruling of the Council or invoke your right to train Initiate Skywalker over the objections of the Council?" Master Rancisis said.

"It is my belief that this is the will of the Force, if the Council sees fit to recommend against my request, I fear I would have to invoke that right, as there is no prohibition on my request."

"Very well, Knight Skywalker. Please bring in Initiate Skywalker," Master Windu instructed the page, who bowed and left the chambers. He came back a very few minutes later with Jasmine.

"Initiate Skywalker, Knight Skywalker has decided to take upon himself your further your training. Is this acceptable to you?" Master Windu asked.

Jasmine looked around, obviously in shock; it took her a few minutes to work through enough of it to speak, and then in a small voice she asked, "Is that allowed? He is my brother."

"The Council has decided that the pairing is acceptable, provided you agree to it," Master Windu said, as Jasmine scooted over closer to Luke.

"Then I accept, Master," Jasmine said.

"Very well, Knight Skywalker, are you willing to share with your student all of your knowledge and experience with your student, protecting her from harm even as you test the limits of her strength to bring her fully into the Force as a Jedi Knight?" Master Windu asked, and by this point, Jasmine was standing beside Luke, and he could feel the hope and, indeed, joy radiating off of her.

"I do, Master," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Initiate Skywalker, are you willing to abide by your Master's instructions, to learn from him and conduct yourself in the manner and bearing of the Jedi Knight you seek to become?"

"Yes, Master," Jasmine said, her voice surprisingly strong.

"Then this Council accepts this pairing of Master and apprentice. Knight Skywalker, braid your Padawan," Master Windu instructed.

Luke knelt in front of his sister and proceeded to twist a small portion of her hair into a thin braid, placed a white fastener to the end, as soon as he was done, she surprised him with a hug, followed by the Council Members coming over to congratulate them.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Council Chamber, 39:4:2, fourteenth hour**

Obi-Wan was pleased as he sat back down in his chair in the Council room. The wonder of having been able to pair Luke and Jasmine abated slightly, but it would continue to infuse the meeting for the remainder of that day, and probably most of the next. "Master Kenobi," Mace said as the rest of the Council settled in.

"Master Windu?"

"You are being assigned to the most delicate mission we have yet put before you, the renegotiation of the contract on New Ralltiir."

"I thank the Council for its trust in me with this mission. I believe that it will be a success, though no one can assure such."

"The Council will trust your judgment on this mission," Mace said. "Master Ti, you have an equally difficult mission before you, another contract negotiations. Are you prepared?"

"Yes, we are ready."

"Master Mundi, you have also negotiations on Eriadu, you are ready?"

"We leave in the morning."

Master Yoda, using his hover chair, entered at this point. "Master Skywalker, Master Yoda indicated that you had something you would need to share with the Council," Master Windu said.

He nodded, looking even more displeased with the prospect of having to speak than he had been with the news that he was attending the Council because he was on it. He stood, and proceeded to tell the Council about the return of his spirit to his body, and spoke on the issues he felt that raised. That he felt extreme guilt over what had happened was obvious. The solution, though, was less obvious. Anakin's thoughts on the matter would have him stripped of all his power and position. This was unacceptable for a variety of reasons, the first of which was how to explain to others why without revealing the truth as to the real reason he was being removed from the Council. 'Personal reasons' was just not going to cut it for his own children, let alone anyone else. The Council denied him any consideration of his resignation. With that in mind, the Council ended its session, and he and Anakin went back to Obi-Wan's quarters.

"So, I'm stuck."

"Well, Anakin, I am afraid so, but you should try to look at it in a positive light."

"I am going to be miserable."

"Only if you decide to be so. You of all people should know that the way the world is can be changed by your perception of it."

He shrugged, looking out the window. It was a habit that he'd picked up since his spirit had been…returned. "I just know, that somewhere in the depths of whatever hell his soul had been banished, Palpatine is laughing."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Yes, but he is there, and you are here, and you have a life to live, and younglings to raise, and a family to love, and a Padawan to train, and…"

"A Padawan? I haven't seen a Padawan," he said, turning back to look at Obi-Wan with some curiosity.

"Well, that would be because he's on his way to Garos IV with my wife."

"Why?"

"To give you a chance to settle in before you have to deal with him. Master Yoda's orders."

"Your wife." It was said with a bit of curiosity, though dampened by the darkness that had consumed him for a time.

"Yes, oh. You would know her as Siri Tachi, though we've been married for thirty years now. Master Yoda and some others still call her Master Tachi, but I think he only does that so he doesn't have to otherwise differentiate between the two of us."

"Siri?" he asked, and turned back to scanning the horizon. "I remember her dying, the mission to Gentian, and then going to Azure, and…"

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to right now, but I will listen if you need me."

There was silence, but it wasn't strained. The door opened, admitting his young, boisterous current Padawan. "Daddy!" she came over to her father, throwing her arms around him in an exuberant hug. Her straight brown hair bounced as she showed such energy, and he smiled.

Anakin looked down at her, though it wasn't very far down. Not like for Jasmine, who probably would be about Leia's height when she was grown. "Yes?"

Jae rolled her eyes. "I'm going on a mission," she told him excitedly.

"I'm aware of that."

She shook her head. "We are leaving tomorrow, aren't we, Master?" she asked, turning to him.

Obi-Wan stroked his beard for a moment, feigning consideration of the topic until she got antsy. "I suppose we can, since you have a ship already picked out, and everything else is ready to go. Can't wait around for Siri and Ash and Nadina to get home, I don't suppose," he said, pretending to contemplate actually staying, much to her horror.

"No, Master, aren't these negotiations important?"

"Hmmm, I do seem to remember something about them being absurdly important for some reason," he said, pulling out a data disc and sighing heavily. "Master Windu said I should read up on this, I suppose I will have to do that eventually."

"I can do it," she said excitedly.

"Oh, no. That wouldn't do. My Padawan can't go around doing my work for me."

"But I want to, Master Obi-Wan, please?"

"Well, I suppose, but you have to give me a full report on what's here, Jaedrea."

She nodded enthusiastically, and took the disc, heading for her room. Anakin looked on in amazement. "You are devious, cunning, and altogether too manipulative for your own good," he said. "How long before she realizes that you conned her into doing far more work than was necessary?"

"She wouldn't get as much out of reading it if she didn't think she was helping her senile old Master, and it will take her most of the mission to decide that I have already read the disc she has."

"She is incredibly excited."

"We haven't left Coruscant for nearly a year. She has a right to be excited. Melida/Daan was hard on both of us. It truly wasn't her fault, what happened, but she's like you, and she blames herself for any failure, even if it was something she couldn't have done anything about, or foreseen."

"I know the name Melida/Daan."

"You should. It was something of a sore point in my past. I did things I'm not proud of there, and it was where I learned that the ends do not justify the means."

The door to Obi-Wan's quarters opened again. "Dad," he heard, his daughter, his oldest.

"Hello, Rain," he said, standing up and giving her a kiss. Her hair was slightly redder than Siri's was, and she was a bit taller, and had inherited grey eyes from him, but he saw much more of her mother in her than he saw of himself. He supposed it was one of his little follies that he couldn't see how his genetics had modified things unless it was glaringly obvious.

"Kennis told me you brought Mr. Horns to him today."

"Ah, so we did. Anakin actually found him."

"Thanks Uncle Anakin," she said with a big grin. "I've got to go, but I'll bring the kids by for dinner tomorrow?"

"That will be fine, dear. I will see you then. When are you expecting J. K. home?"

"A few days," she said, and she kissed him goodbye, heading back out the door again, probably so that she could ensure that Kennis hadn't gotten into anything.

"Rain?" Anakin asked him with disbelief.

"Don't look at me, I'm not the one who gave her that nickname. Her name is Siri-Wan. I'm not even entirely sure how it came about that she became Rain. I was with Siri for two days when she was giving birth to Fel-Gin, our third child, and we left you in charge of Siri-Wan and Dak-Tin. When we came back, she declared, in the way a six-year-old will, that her name was now Rain, and that was the name you had given her."

"I did this?"

"Oh, I'm sure you had some help from a couple of mischievous Padawans that we had running around at the time, but in her mind it was you who gave the name to her."

"I hope I had a good reason for it."

"I'm sure you did. I don't doubt it was something that originated with J.K. There were some, shall we say, interesting bruises that he had and refused to explain to Siri."

Anakin shook his head. "I am at a loss for words sometimes. Everything feels so normal, so perfect, so much the way I imagined my life would be that it hurts."

Obi-Wan patted Anakin's back, who gave a wan smile in understanding at what Obi-Wan was doing, and they stayed for some time in companionable silence.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Jade-Skywalker Quarters, 39:4:3, late evening**

Mara looked up from the HoloNet as Luke walked into their quarters. "How is Leia?"

"She and Han seem to be making up for the time they are about to lose."

She laughed, and said, "Leia does like her fixes." He looked at her quizzically. "I wonder if I will get as bad as she is."

He paled slightly, "Just how bad is she?"

Mara bit her lip, "How to put this delicately…" she thought as she tapped her finger to her lips. "Well, she makes randy womp rats look like they've taken a vow of celibacy."

He opened his mouth to tell her something, but then she saw the blush spread over his face. It took him a minute to regain his composure while she laughed. "Next time, I don't really want to know."

That, of course, only made her laugh harder, and by the time she was able to breathe, he at least wasnh€™t bright red. "So, to change the subject off of my sister's bedroom habits, I wanted to thank you for helping me with Jasmine today. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you."

She went over to where he was sitting on the long sofa, and she sat on his lap, and said, "You are more than welcome. I'm just glad it worked out for the two of you."

He looked uncomfortable, and more than that, his body felt as though every muscle in his body were strung tighter than a Wookiee bowcaster. "Mara…"

She felt the conflict in him, and she could even feel it in his body. She stood up, not quite understanding why he was having such a problem with perfectly natural reactions. "What is it?"

He looked down at his hands, thinking for a moment before answering. "I know that you think you know me, and I want to get to know you, but I'm not the same person that you married."

"What makes you say that?" she asked, and, deciding that she was not going to be forced away from him, sat down beside him.

Luke took his time finding an answer. In this, she agreed, he wasn't the same. She was used to him being, if not as impulsive as his father and Leia, he was at least not deliberate. "I think you are a beautiful, intelligent, capable, loving person, and I really think I could grow to love you, but those feeling just aren't there yet for me," he said finally.

"What do you mean? I thought the memory loss was going to be temporary."

"I hope it is, but other than glimmers of things through the Force, I have nothing to go on."

"The way you've been acting today…when you kissed me this morning at breakfast, it felt just like it always did…I don't understand," she said, frustration leaking out into the Force, despite her attempts to control it.

"We didn't go much into our personal lives at breakfast, but before this morning, I had never met you," Luke told her.

"I get it, Farmboy," she rumbled, "You were just pretending this morning. It's so Jaedrea and everyone else don't get the wrong idea. But what if it's not the wrong idea?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we're having a problem. Is hiding that from your little sisters really going to help things?"

Luke shrugged. "You came up to me, and it just felt right, putting my arms around you, comforting you."

"How much are you going to do based on it feeling right?"

"Mara, I know this has to be difficult for you, but I'm not the same person who went to sleep with you last night," he said, his voice sounding compassionate, indeed it was as full of emotion as she was feeling, different, but no less intense.

"You never knew me in the other…" she paused for a moment as she searched for the right word.

"Time-line, I guess. I don't know what else to call it," Luke supplied, and she nodded.

"Time-line, but you're still you. You're still Luke Skywalker."

"I don't know the man who fell in love with you. I can speculate on what I was like before, but I can't KNOW. At least not yet."

"I want you back...the last three months have been awful, you chasing after Immolious, knowing what she likes to do to men..."

"What do you mean? Who is Immolious?"

"Maul's apprentice, she seduces men and kills them during sex."

"Oh..."

"I just want things back to normal, but they won't be will they?"

"I know you do, and I wish I could make that happen. The good news though, is that I feel like this is where I'm supposed to be, by your side." he told her, and the earnestness in his voice nearly broke her heart, it was the same tone he always had when he really wanted to help her with a problem, but didn't know how too, when a new fear hit her all of the sudden.

"Was…" she paused again, not wanting to put to words her fear, afraid it would make it real, but she had to know, she just HAD to. "Was there anyone else…special…in the other time line? Someone you miss?" she finished, her voice halting, she struggled to let her emotions into the Force, but there was just too much.

Luke seemed taken aback by the question, "Uh…no, no one like that, I had friends that I don't know if I'll see again, this history is so different, but…no one like that," he said and the unshed tears began to flow as the relief overpowered her control. He moved over next to her and put his arms around her, trying, albeit awkwardly, to comfort her. "I'm sorry."

She looked up at him. He still looked the same, gave her the same crooked smile, the one he'd inherited from his father. He still cared so much it hurt him to do so. He was still the same person, wasn't he? She reached out through the Force to him, and felt like she was almost being physically slammed back from him, he was so powerful, it was like her mind hit a brick wall, he'd let down some of his shields, but his mind was closed to her, he never had it close to her, nor had he ever really wanted to. "Luke…" she said, and the tears came harder as she truly began to understand that he truly _wasn't_ her Luke. "Your mind is closed to me, your mind is never closed to me…" she sobbed harder as the terrible reality set in.

It was apparently enough to wake Jasmine up, as she came out into the common room. "What's wrong? Mara, you guys are upset enough to upset the baby. And Luke, you're so stressed out that you're strung like mynock that got stuck in a set of power couplings."

Luke sighed, and she could feel him relaxing. It was forced, but he was trying. She tried to do the same thing, but it wasn't easy, since he had basically told her that she was now married to a complete stranger, and it was actually sinking in that this wasn't changing anytime soon.

"What's going on? Why are you guys fighting?"

"We're not fighting, Jasmine," Luke said. "I was explaining something to Mara."

"This has to do with why Master Yoda had breakfast with us this morning, doesn't it?" Jasmine asked.

She could feel pride color Luke's turbulent emotions.

"Yes, Jasmine it does, but you need to be in bed now so you're ready to go to Ilum tomorrow," Luke said.

"I want to know what is going on," she said, showing that her parents' determination had indeed bred true.

"I promise Mara and I will explain everything to you, but you need to give us a chance to figure things out first, ok?" Luke said.

"Ok, I can do that, but can you not be so loud, please?" she asked.

"We weren't being loud," Luke said looking confused.

"Not loud with your voices, loud with your emotions."

Mara realized that watching Luke with Jasmine was making her feel a little better, and was able to bring her emotions back to a manageable level, she was still crying, but not as hard. "Go back to bed Jasmine, we'll talk with you about this on the way to Ilum," she said, once she was sure of her voice. Jasmine hugged her.

"It's going to be ok, Mara. I can feel it," Jasmine said then gave Luke a hug, "You hurry up and fix this, I don't like it when Mara is sad."

"I don't like it either, but some things aren't so easy to fix," Luke said.

"I know, I'll see both of you in the morning," Jasmine said and trotted back to her room. Once Jasmine's door closed Mara turned back to Luke, "You are so good with her."

"Thanks, at least I'm getting something right," Luke said, and leaned back into the couch, letting out a sigh.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"What for?" he seemed surprised, and that was yet another needle pushed into her heart, it was classic Luke, yet she couldn't deny the changes in him, he was more powerful now than she had ever known him, more powerful than he had been even last night after he came home, scary powerful, like Master Yoda had been before he fell ill last year.

"For not realizing that this has to be as hard for you, if not harder, than it is on me. You've lost everything you've ever known, compared to that what I'm going through is nothing."

"Don't do that, Mara," he said, sounding concerned.

"Don't do what?"

"Minimize your feelings, they are what they are, independent of anything else, and they are as important as mine."

Before she knew what she was doing she buried her face into his shoulder and the tears flowed. He made soothing noises and stroked her hair, she didn't know how long she'd been there like that, but she finally ran out of tears, she shifted slightly and snuggled into the warmth of his chest, "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Mrs. Skywalker. Now, you go to bed. We, like Jasmine, need a good night's rest," he said.

She got up, and headed into their room, she paused when she realized he wasn't following her.

"Aren't you coming?" she asked, even though she knew the answer to the question would be more heartache.

"I'm sorry, Mara, but I'm not ready yet, and I'm afraid being in that close proximity to you…we'll do something that I'd regret in the morning, and I don't want regrets with you," the sincerity in his voice burned her already wounded heart.

"Why would you regret it? Do you regret our child?" she asked, bringing up yet another painful subject.

"No, I don't regret our child, but I would regret…" he didn't finish and he face turned red, if it wasn't for everything going on she would have found it adorable, a realization hit her, seemingly out of the blue, she came back to the couch and knelt before him.

"You've never been with anyone before. In the other time-line, have you?" she asked.

This revelation made him several shades darker red than he had already been. "No…I haven't. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru drilled into me as soon as I was old enough to understand that sex was special, and meant only for a very special person. Besides, I'd feel like I was taking advantage of you, especially tonight," he said, his hand touching the side of her face, and it felt right, and yet, he was right. She nodded and in that moment loved him more than she had ever loved him before and decided that she would do whatever was in her power to help him, no matter how much it hurt.

"I love you, Luke Skywalker, and I will help you in anyway I can, even if it means losing you," he opened his mouth to speak, and she put a finger to it, "No more words tonight, we do have an early day in the morning. You stay here and I'll bring you a pillow and blanket. We'll talk more in the morning."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:3, early morning**

Cedric was walking through the desert on Tatooine alone. He hadn't been allowed to do so ever before, and it was kind of fun. The landscape changed suddenly, and he knew he was dreaming then.

_He was standing on the balcony. It was either his parents' balcony, or one very similar. There were several such scattered around the Temple, for the convenience of whatever grouping chose to use them. There was a point in time that Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and his father had retained the three apartments on the balcony that was now reserved for the exclusive use of his family. Qui-Gon had decided to move to smaller quarters, as had Obi-Wan, when Luke had been Knighted, and Mara; when Fel-Gin and Dak-Tin had moved out and to their own quarters, or at least in with their Masters. _

_It had been part of Leia's welcome home—her own apartment with Han. Aayla had no objection to it, but she still wasn't home. He looked up and saw a speeder heading his direction. There didn't seem to be anything special about the vehicle, but somehow it differentiated itself to him. _

_He waited, watching, as it got closer to the Temple. It was not very long until it veered out of traffic and to the balcony. The hatch popped open to reveal his greatest love and his biggest enemy. He found that he had no control over what was happening, so simply observed what was going on. "Sev'rence," he called out to her, and she smiled at him as she got out of the vehicle. _

"_Cedric, my love, I have a surprise for you," she said and she reached into the back of the vehicle, bringing a small bundle out. "This is Zeret," she told him as he removed the layer of blankets that had fallen over the face of the young boy she was showing him. He had pale blue skin—much paler than his mother's. The most startling feature, however, were the blue eyes that were set in his face—his father's eyes. _

"_He's beautiful," he heard himself saying. "I can't say that I agree with your methods, but the results speak for themselves. Have you decided to stay?" she handed him the boy then, and Zeret looked at him with the wise curiosity of innocent children._

_She was silent for a long time, but Cedric was patient, he was soon rewarded for that patience._

"_Yes, I have decided to stay and answer for my crimes. The Sith in me is dead, finally, thanks to you, my dearest. Your forgiveness saved me."_

_He smiled and said, "No, I merely showed you the path, you're the one who walked it, and stuck with it no matter how painful it was. I'm proud of you."_

_She was silent and he turned his attention back to the baby, his son and was happy, truly happy for the first time since he'd met this woman. He stared at the child taking in the whole of his features, his pale blue skin, the light blue glow to his eyes, though unlike his mother, Cedric could make out Zeret's irises, the scar that ran over his eye, across the bridge of his nose and down his cheek, disappearing underneath the blanket he was wrapped in. Zeret was a bright beacon in the Force; he had obviously inherited the Skywalker strength. He would be a fine Jedi someday, should he choose that path for his life. _

_He returned his attention back to her, and as he did, he saw the red blade of a lightsaber sticking out from her stomach. She pitched forward, sliding off the blade as her eyes went dark. Cedric felt his heart shatter as the light faded from her eyes. As she crumpled to the floor, he became aware of another presence, this one belonging to nightmares, Darth Maul. "Well, that disposes of you, my treacherous apprentice," Maul said to the now-dead former Sith. _

"_No, you aren't here, you can't be here, you're dead…she KILLED you!"_

"_She was mistaken about that, as she was about a great many things. Now I will continue my revenge on your father, two Skywalkers in one night, if I can keep this up I might finally rid the galaxy of your fecund filth once and for all!" Maul said, his voice sent chills up Cedric's spine. He couldn't fight while holding Zeret, and he couldn't put his son down either, there was only one option. He turned to run only to feel the hot, burning pain that only a lightsaber could produce go through his middle, and he stopped mid-step and looked down at the wound, and screamed in horror. The blood red blade was sticking out of Zeret's head._

Cedric sat up in his bed, screaming, with sweat pouring off of him. As his awareness of his surroundings came into focus, he found that his master was there, hugging him. He clung to her, crying, the emotions of the nightmare too much for him to process quickly. He didn't know how long he cried, but his left leg was asleep by the time he stopped.

"Now, tell me about the dream," Shaak Ti said, and he knew it was an order, but that didn't stop his hesitation.

"It was nothing, just a bad dream," Cedric said, shifting himself as much to relieve his emotional discomfort as his physical. He realized he was lying, but it was as much to himself as to his Master.

"That isn't true, no mere nightmare invokes as much emotion as this one did, my Padawan, now once more, tell me about the dream."

Cedric sighed, and began telling her, attempting to feign forgetfulness at the more intense parts, but, as always, Shaak Ti saw through his mediocre attempts at obfuscation. Once he was finished, he was surprised by how much better he felt, not that he felt great, but it was better than when he had first woken up.

"You believe this dream to prophetic," it was a statement, not a question.

"I don't…" he sighed, he was lying to himself again, a habit he'd picked up since his first encounter with her. "I hope not, how I could have fathered her child is inconceivable to me," he finished.

"Poor choice of words, Padawan," Shaak Ti said and Cedric looked at her puzzled, then thought about what he had said and blushed.

"Sorry, Master, but my accidental pun doesn't change my thoughts on the dream. I don't see how I could be this child's father, yet…I know I will be."

"Do you have any clues as to when this might come to pass?" she asked.

"No, I didn't see a calendar in it, I don't think it is too far away though, she didn't look much older than when I last saw her, of course I'm not familiar with how rapidly aging happens to the Chiss," Cedric said, taking a few moments to blow his nose.

Shaak Ti nodded, "We should discuss this with your father."

"Do we have to? It's a little embarrassing," he said.

"Of anyone in the Order, Cedric, your father will understand best. Besides he loves you."

"I know, but I just had a dream about having a child with a Sith, not only that, but at eighteen at the oldest, and I just know I hadn't been Knighted yet," Cedric said, the words tumbling out of him.

"First, it hasn't happened yet, you cannot be held responsible for an event that has yet to occur, second, based on your description of the dream there is a good possibility you were an unwilling participant in the child's conception," Shaak Ti said.

"You really think that is possible?"

"Knowing what we know of her habits, I would say it is definitely in the realm of possibility. Now try to get some sleep, morning is not far off, but neither is it here yet," she said, tucking him back into bed as his father used to when he was younger.

"Thank you, Master," he said.

"It is my pleasure to be here to help you through this, Cedric. My only regret is that you have to go through it at all," Shaak Ti said and left. Cedric spent the next two hours not quite asleep, but not awake either, afraid the visions of that future would come back to haunt him.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Master Yoda's chambers, 39:4:3, sixth hour**

Aayla Secura stood in front of a door she didn't want to go into, and yet, it was the only door that held the answers she needed. She had arrived only moments ago, just long enough to have checked the ship in, and walked here. Being here, on Coruscant, should have filled her with relief, happiness, and joy. Even if Leia was hurt, being this close, she should have been able to sense her, but there was _nothing_ where there should have been _something_. It was disconcerting, and despite her desire to check on her Padawan, she knew that if she went against the admonition of Master Yoda to come see him first, there would be unpleasant consequences.

She was getting nowhere by standing there, in front of the door, so she pressed the chime, and the door opened. "Good to see you it is, Master Secura. Much to discuss have we, and then Han Solo to see off, with Master Mundi," he said from a meditation cushion.

"Yes, Master," she said, entering and settling in on a different cushion nearby.

"Afraid you are."

"Yes, Master. I am afraid for my Padawan's wellbeing, because I still can't feel her."

"Mmmmm, understand that this distresses you, I do. Put it out of your mind, you must."

"Is she well?"

"Physically she is well. Bothered her, the twins have not. Bother her more, her husband does."

"Then what happened?" She asked, relief flooding through her.

"Clear your mind of your fear, and discuss that we will."

"Yes, Master," she said, bowing her head. She closed her eyes, and began to meditate and to release the emotions she'd clung to desperately over the last day.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:3, sixth hour**

Shaak Ti went with Cedric as he walked back to his parents' quarters. He didn't protest that she didn't need to talk with his father about this, though she could tell that was what his opinion on the matter was. He had made mention that there seemed to be something wrong with his father. She also knew what that was. As part of the meeting of the Council the day before, he had explained in exacting detail as to his feelings on various matters, including his appointment to the Council, in regards to the fact that he was still working through the emotional backlash of having been a Sith, and having been redeemed. While his feelings could not be ignored, there were also many other factors that needed to be taken into consideration. Anakin was a good Master, and had been for many years, and, while popularity was not a reason to keep someone on the Council, he was highly visible, and there would be demands of explanation if he were removed from the Council suddenly, even if he wished for that himself.

She said nothing, knowing that it was the wish of Anakin specifically and the Council in general to keep as many people out of this particular mynock's nest as possible. She didn't think it would take the Skywalker children long to figure things out, especially since two of their number were included in the changes, but judging how much a sensitive sixteen-year-old boy could handle in trying to understand the very changes in the fabric of time that had allowed his existence to be possible was a difficult proposition at best.

Cedric went immediately to his room, and she found Anakin in meditation in the common room. She watched him for a moment, and he opened his eyes and looked at her, then turned away, as though he had seen something horrifying. "Forgive me for interrupting your meditation, Anakin."

He sighed, stretching his legs out. "It's fine. I can only take so much of it before I start to go a little crazy inside my own head."

"If I may ask," she started, but he interrupted.

"Let's go outside," he said, and she followed him out to the balcony. "I don't really want them to hear this," he said, waving his hand vaguely back on the direction of his quarters. She wondered what he thought was bad enough that he wanted to hide it from his family, or maybe just his children.

"If it is not something you wish to tell me," she said, knowing that he was feeling pained over what he was thinking.

"No, you might as well know. It's one of those things, that if I hide from it, it will only get worse," he said, sighing, looking out onto the Coruscanti skyline, holding on to the balcony railings as if his life depended upon it. The Togruta Master was patient as Anakin gathered his thoughts, and was soon rewarded with the answer to the question she had yet to ask. "I sent someone to kill you, after the Temple burned. An apprentice, if you will, though he was never intended to be more. He was a pawn."

"Is that how you see the Temple now?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes I see the way in which a person died laid over them as they stand in front of me. Sometimes it's more than that, sometimes I can feel the emotions that I felt, as though I were back in that moment, watching them die, feeling…"

She was silent, but it was clear that he was so overwhelmed by his emotions that he was not going to continue. "Perhaps now is not the time for the discussion that I wish to have with you," she said.

He straightened. She could see him bleeding his own old anguish off into the Force. "You are leaving this afternoon. It will be better if you don't have to wait for an answer. You obviously feel that it is important, since you have sought me out this early."

She nodded acknowledgement. She did think this was very important, and that Anakin's help in the matter was the best available. "Cedric awoke last night with a nightmare."

"You will have to excuse my ignorance," he said ruefully, quietly. "Does he normally have nightmares?"

She shook her head. "Jasmine used to, but she has grown out of that, from what I understand."

"Why do you come to me, telling me that he had a nightmare?"

"It was some of the things he said about the dream, that made me think of some of what you have said," she told him, and he faced her, turning steely blue eyes on her. It was a colder stare than she had seen from him before, more intense, and more tormented. She knew the soul that now resided inside him was more ragged around the edges, but the differences in him did not disconcert her. "He dreamed…There is a woman, and you will likely know nothing of her. She is Chiss," she hesitated.

"I know what a Chiss is. One of the Emperor's most effective admirals was a Chiss. Thrawn, I believe his name was."

She nodded. She knew the name, but now was not the time for that particular conversation. "She is Chiss, and Cedric has grown attached to her."

"There's a but coming."

"Yes. She is Sith," Shaak Ti said, and she was prepared to have him yell, or scream, or rant, or something. She felt a blankness from him, and she realized after a while that it was because he was feeling emotions she couldn't even begin to comprehend.

"There is more."

"Yes, there is. He spoke of the dream, that it was in the future, and he spoke of her path to redemption, and their child, and the reemergence of the Sith, Darth Maul, and Maul's killing of her, and the child, and of himself. It was not that he spoke of these things that made me seek you out, but the certainty with which he said these things, and how comforting him did nothing to alleviate the sorrow inside of him."

"Has he had dreams like this before?"

"Not that I am aware of. Perhaps it is nothing."

"Do not be so dismissive of something that holds this much sway over him."

"I do not. I simply allow for the multitude of possibilities that this particular situation may bring."

Anakin nodded, and looked up as Cedric walked out onto the balcony. "Are you done talking about me yet?"

She sighed. "Yes, Padawan. I will see you in an hour."

"You can stay. Mom said it was ok for you to stay."

"I have a few things to get done between now and then. I think you will be able to eat breakfast without me watching over your shoulder, don't you?"

"Yes, Master," he said, and she gave his braid a tug. "This mission will be good for us, I think."

"Yes, I think so. It will not take very long, I don't think, so that you may continue with your duties with the Senate, as I know you enjoy them so."

"Yes, Master," he said, and then turned back to the residence, and she followed, as did Anakin after a moment.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Solo Quarters, 39:4:3, eighth hour**

Leia woke late, or at least she assumed it was late. The sun was up, and streaming in under her door. Han was already up; she reached across the bed, feeling that it was cold. She stretched, wishing that her body didn't feel so sore, or that she could move normally instead of waddling. But she was very pregnant with twins, and she wasn't due for another ten weeks. She dressed slowly, because other than seeing Han off, she had nothing to do that day. There were some parenting classes she could be attending, but she didn't feel like going anywhere. She walked out into the common room to find Han putting the finishing touches on breakfast. He looked at her, and he smiled. "Hey," she said, a little bashful, and smiled back at him.

"Hey yourself," he said, then he faltered, "Look, I want to…" she put her hand over his mouth.

"Don't ruin a perfectly good night by apologizing, Han Solo," she told him sternly. "I'm not entirely sure how I feel about last night, but guilty shouldn't be what you're feeling."

He looked unsure, downcast. "If you aren't sure how you feel, how are you sure what you think I should feel?"

"I enjoyed myself, both at the opera and after. I do feel like this relationship, being married to you, it's the right thing for us, but I still feel like we just got past the part of our relationship where we decide that liking each other isn't a bad thing."

"So, you're fine with what happened last night?"

"More than fine," she assured him. "I'm just a bit confused about my feelings for other aspects of our relationship."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:3, eighth hour**

Padmé was actually glad to have some of her children gone for the moment, because it made Anakin a bit easier to deal with. Luke had decided to have breakfast alone with Mara, and Jasmine with them. That he had decided to take a Padawan after what had happened was surprising. That it was Jasmine had been shocking to her, but once she'd thought it through, not really too surprising. Leia had wanted to have breakfast alone with Han, since he was leaving that morning, and she agreed that it was a good idea. Their relationship was new enough that this might disrupt it totally, and she didn't want that for the two of them. Liz was on Caamas, and would be other places before she came home, and it would be a couple of months before they saw their second daughter again. Celia was on one of her three-day stents doing work in the lower levels of Coruscant, teaching classes on first aide, and going out with medical emergency vehicles.

That left Cedric, Jae and Julia to deal with. She watched them file out of their bedrooms, and settle at the table. "Did any of you do anything interesting yesterday?"

Cedric shrugged. "I'm going on a mission with Master Ti this afternoon. I need to go see Celia this morning so that I can tell her goodbye."

"Alright. How long are you going to be gone?"

He shrugged, and picked at his food. She let him be, because he'd been moody and withdrawn all morning. Now just wasn't the time to try to draw him out of his shell.

"I'm going on a mission, too!" Jaedrea announced.

"Really?" Julia asked, "I wish I could go on a mission."

"You'd miss flying with the Rogues," Jaedrea said.

"Oh, Zev told me something cool yesterday!" she was almost squealing with excitement. "They are building a new squad!"

"You going to get to fly with them? What is it going to be called?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. I just wish I could actually join them. They are talking calling it Renegade."

"I wish I could be up there with you, but Master Obi-Wan doesn't think it's a good idea. He gets a nasty twitch in his left eye when I ask about it."

"Really? Can I see it sometime?" Julia asked.

"Sure, if I can make him do it while you're around."

"Hey, you two, torturing Obi-Wan is my job," their father admonished them, but it was obvious his heart wasn't in the joke.

"You're no fun, Daddy," Jaedrea said. "Besides, you said that since I'm his Padawan it's my duty to make sure he stays on his toes."

"That wasn't what I meant," he said with a frown.

"And all three of you are terrible, Obi-Wan has done nothing to deserve the amount of grief you three try to put him through," Padmé added, joining in the banter.

"Where's Jasmine?" Julia asked, suddenly realizing that the third member of their little troupe was missing.

"She's having breakfast with her Master."

"And Luke?" Jaedrea asked.

"He and Mara have catching up to do. Besides, I figured you would appreciate not having them around so it doesn't offend your delicate sensibilities when they kiss each other good morning."

"And Leia?" Jaedrea asked.

"Han's going on a mission with Master Mundi, so they are having breakfast in their quarters so they can have alone time as well."

"Oh. Wait, Jasmine has a Master?"

"Yes, I would have thought she would have told the two of you, at least, last night."

Julia shook her head, and Jaedrea asked, "So who is it?"

"Luke has decided to take up Jasmine's training," Anakin said, and he picked up his caf cup, and headed for the balcony.

"Oh," Jae said. "So when is the party?"

"When everyone gets home," she told the oldest of her three youngest.

"Is Dad upset that Luke is training Jasmine?" Cedric asked.

Padmé shook her head. "No. Whatever is bothering him, it's not that. He was happy last night when the two of them told us."

"I haven't seen Dad this upset since Ash was hurt really bad," Cedric commented. "Where is Ash, anyway?"

"Siri took him and a couple of others, I think, for some sort of intensive training. I didn't get much more out of her than that."

"I wish I knew what was wrong with Dad," Cedric said.

The girls nodded their agreement, and she sighed. She didn't know what to tell them, but she knew that she couldn't just say nothing. The door to their quarters slid open to reveal a Togruta, one she recognized instantly. The lightning bolt shapes on her cheeks, and the diamonds on her forehead made her smile. "Ahsoka!" Jaedrea cried out, racing over to the Jedi Master.

"Hey, Trouble. You been good lately?" she asked, giving the girl a hug and ruffling her hair. By that point, her siblings were over at the door, smiling at the unexpected visit from someone who was practically another sister.

"Good enough. Master Obi-Wan is taking me on a mission."

"Well, good deal. What about you, Wings?"

"No mission, but I'm flying with Rogue Squadron two days a week now, if they're at home."

"I see," she said solemnly.

"Alright, you three, it's time go get ready to go," Padmé said coming up to the little grouping.

They trudged off without complaint, and Ahsoka faced Padmé. "So, what's up?"

She just shook her head. "I don't know that I can explain it," she said, and started to pick up the dishes from breakfast.

Ahsoka helped her clean up, and took a cup of caf, heading out after her Master. "I'll see what I can get out of him."

"Thank you, Ahsoka," she said. "I took off yesterday, but I can't keep that up."

* * *

**Caamas, Jedi Temple, visitor's area, 39:4:3, eighth hour**

Liz enjoyed her time at other Temples. Caamas, Alderaan, Naboo, Dantooine, even Corellia, on the one occasion she had been there. They mostly took care of their own, there, but she'd gone to visit when one of Luke and Leia's clanmates had gone home—Corran Halcyon. He was a fun sort, in a roguish sort of way.

That she was here to help a youngling sort out his destiny made it better somehow. Despite his admonitions to the contrary, Master Aloun had left a data disc on her desk, and she had found all of the information she could have wanted on the child in question, from midi-chlorian counts to transcripts of their first interview. She sifted through the majority of it in the hour he'd given her to settle in before he came to their home.

It was an hour's travel out to the large farm that they were visiting, and she used the opportunity to make small talk about nothing in particular with Master Aloun. Once she relaxed and let it come naturally, she did find that it made things much more pleasant. "Will you be able to keep this up for an hour or so more before we get down to business?" Master Aloun asked her as they approached the main farmhouse.

She nodded. "It's really not so bad," she said. "I just have to get into the mindset."

"Yes, I'm sure. There are Jedi from Coruscant who can never relax enough to make the residents around here comfortable."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Balcony, 39:4:3, ninth hour**

Ahsoka walked out onto her master's balcony with a cup of caf in her hand. She stood there, waiting for him to acknowledge her, but he didn't. He scanned the horizon, deep in his typical brooding state when something was terribly wrong. She let him brood, sensing that it would be a bad idea to interrupt him just then. So, patience, not something she typically had to exercise when dealing with her master any longer, was her only option. Padmé, usually her best indication of what to expect from him, had been no help at all this morning, simply shaking her head.

So she was left to deal with him with no insight as to why he was in the place he was, nothing other than Master Yoda's typically cryptic comments. After she had drunk the entire cup, slowly, she sighed, deciding that if she waited for him to be ready, it would be nightfall before he said anything. "Not right now," he said as he took a sip from the cup in his hand, and it hurt that he was pushing her away, especially since she didn't even know why.

"I get called back to Coruscant because you need me, and now you won't even talk to me? I bust my ass to get here in record time, _leave my Padawan, _drop everything, and all you can say is 'not right now'?" by the time she was finished, she'd broken into tears, the horror of the dream she'd had again last night still fresh within her mind.

It broke him out of his brooding, though. She'd always had a knack for doing that, at least. He turned slowly; as though he was having trouble reconciling what he'd just heard with the way the world was in his head. "I'm sorry, Snips, didn't realize it was you," he said, and she could see the tears glistening in his eyes as he enveloped her in a huge hug. She gratefully accepted it, however there was soon a slight problem.

"Master…air…need…to…breathe!" He was forgiven for the small slight; those were the rules, at least, most of the time. The warning that Yoda had given her, that his attitude would be different was like a foreboding in her mind as she considered his reactions. "Now," she said, pulling away from him, "What's wrong?"

He pulled her tight against his chest again, nearly knocking the breath out of her once again, he was squeezing so hard, "Thank the Force you're alive," he said, confusing her a bit. "I was hoping."

"Master?" she asked, pushing back from him again so that she could see his face.

His expression was serious, "You may not understand everything I'm about to tell you, but I need someone to hear this."

Perhaps this would be the answer to her vision, or perhaps he'd had one of his own. He tended to have more of them than she did. "Alright, Master, I'm listening," she said, as he finally let her go, and they walked over to a place where they could sit.

"It all started thirty-six years ago, give or take a couple of days," he said, and he started staring off into the distance again. "What do you know about the Massacre in the Senate?" he asked abruptly, turning to her.

"Well, just what everybody knows, I suppose," she said, and he looked at her. She knew that look and she sighed. He wanted to know _in exacting detail_ what she knew. "There were these two Jedi, and they came to the Temple out of nowhere. Their names were Ben and Luke, and they spent a couple of weeks helping the Jedi gather evidence about a Senator Palpatine from Naboo, who turned out to be a Sith Lord. They also killed him, and then no one heard from them ever again. No one had ever heard of them before that, either, except maybe Master Yoda, but he doesn't talk about them, even when he's asked."

He sighed. "Come, we'll start with the whole story of the Massacre."

"The whole story?"

"The whole story," he confirmed.

"We're starting the conversation of what's wrong with you with a history lesson?"

"Well, a short one. It will be entertaining enough, I think."

* * *

**New Ralltiir, 39:4:3**

Darth Maul arrived on New Ralltiir; he still had a slight limp from the thrice-cursed Skywalker. How he would love to see the arrogant Jedi broken. Unfortunately, he was unable to devote much of his energy to revenge. Killing him would be empty at this point and not very satisfying. However, Maul had resigned himself to having to settle for that a long time ago. He just didn't have time to properly plan revenge. His plan required so much attention from himself personally, it was simple, and it was subtle, but those very characteristics made it very labor intensive, labor he would only trust to himself. He had to arrive in various places about every six months or so, always just before an agreement was reached. Fortunately his plan was finally nearing fruition, the current contract on New Ralltiir with the Republic—for carbonates that went into the atmospheric dampeners in Coruscant's upper atmosphere—would expire within three months and then Coruscant would start to choke on its own waste gases.

This particular contract was an especially lovely one to be breaking, because the exacting standards of Coruscant's atmosphere made the contract irreplaceable. Maul laughed heartily as he strode off of his ship, looking for the first target of his machinations. Maul knew he would be found at the local purveyor of vice of many types. It amused him that the one man who was best able to bring the Republic down nearly single handedly not only didn't recognize his potential, he seemed perfectly happy to sell that power for cheap alcohol and cheaper sex. Maul had never understood some why some males, and it didn't really matter which species, basically shut their brains down when confronted with whatever piece of anatomy they found most enticing. The fact that such beings tended to look down on those such as himself who didn't think with their genitals made it…amusing.

Maul entered the establishment, even though in his opinion it didn't rate even that distinction. The building was shabby, even by the abysmally low standards of the neighborhood it was located in. It stank of stale vomit, sweat, and other less savory bodily fluids. Maul sighed; his Master never promised glamour would be part of being a Sith, only power and the exercise of that power. He found his target quickly enough, he was engaged with three females, Maul didn't bother noting their species other than the fact they were reasonably humanoid.

"Leave us," he commanded, putting just enough of the Force into the command that the females obeyed without a word.

"Hey! I was enjoying myself, find your own…Jeres, I didn't think you were coming again, we've got everything we've asked for, I don't know how to thank you," the man said, his name was Teriolt, and Maul only remembered it because he had to.

"Think nothing of it, Teriolt," Maul said.

"No, because of you, I think the Republic is really listening to us. They are sending a Jedi to close out the negotiations," Teriolt said, and laughed a raspy laugh that ended in a cough that sent spittle into Maul's face. "Sorry about that, let me clean that up for you," Teriolt said as he took a filthy handkerchief and wiped Maul's face, accomplishing little more than spreading the spittle and making Maul's face dirty.

"Have you thought about asking for the guaranteed rate increases?"

"No, we've got plenty, we don't want to push too hard," Teriolt said.

"Consider this, my friend. The Republic doesn't send Jedi to routine negotiations; the fact that they are sending one is proof that they are worried. Now is the time to push for it my friend, you have a captive in Coruscant, they cannot breathe without what you sell them. In my humble opinion, they have been paying very little for the very air that they breathe," Maul said, putting just enough of the Force into his words to nudge Teriolt into agreeing, indeed thinking it was his own idea in the first place.

"Yes, that's what I'm talking about, Jeres, it's time Coruscant paid what our product is really worth to them. I'm glad you agree, without you we wouldn't be set up like we are, once that Jedi gets here we'll show them!"

Maul nodded, "You have always been sharp Teriolt, tell me, do you know who the Republic is sending?"

"I haven't heard yet."

Maul closed his eyes and smiled, "I think I will stay a bit longer and see whom they send."

"Great!" Teriolt said and motioned the females back over, one of which started hanging on Maul.

"I am sorry my dear, but I am on a budget and cannot afford your services," Maul said, and as she was getting up Teriolt motioned for her to stay.

"On me, Jeres, you deserve it."

Maul forced a smile, the prostitute reeked of something, and wasn't very attractive. He forced a thanks out to Teriolt and took the slobbering whore up to a room where he placed her in a Force trance and focused on more important matters.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Lower Archives, 39:4:3, tenth hour**

Anakin could push away the image in his mind of his former Padawan's death if he tried hard enough, since she was standing here in front of him, twenty-four years in the future of when he'd last seen her. He really had to try, though. For her, he would. It wasn't as hard to do with Mace; he'd fallen out a window, and the twenty-three years since his 'death' had done much more to his appearance than it had done to Snips'.

She'd gotten taller, though, and her body looked finished, where it hadn't before. She'd been a child when she'd died, no matter how she'd pretended otherwise, no matter that he'd let her. He searched through the materials that were kept for the exclusive perusal of the Jedi Council, looking for any information on the Massacre in the Senate. As he looked, he noticed large quantities of information that he would have thought to be public knowledge; but then prophecy was chancy business. He could see why the Jedi Council didn't want to share some of it. He found the volume he was looking for in the far recesses of the room. It was unguarded, but required a pass code to get in, and feature identification. In the case of a human, thumbprints were the most common.

He was lucky that the Council hadn't changed the pass codes in millennia, since he still hadn't remembered anything from this history; he had remembered the codes he'd been given when he'd been promoted to the Council during the Clone Wars. "Here we go," he said as he came around from behind the last bookshelf, holding the box containing a number of data discs that likely held the answers he wanted her to have.

"Why don't you just tell me?" she asked from her seat at the only table in the room.

"You won't believe me," he said petulantly, "And it will give me some time to think."

"You never need time to think."

"Well, today, I do," he said, and he was sure that she could feel the knife's edge of emotion that he was still balancing on.

She started digging through the box, and came up with a blue disc. "Medical Records," she read. "Are these sealed?"

"Probably," he told her, and he picked up another disc. "Temple security footage. Oh. I know what's probably on that," he commented to himself, and she looked at him strangely again.

"Senate security footage."

"That's probably what we want."

She nodded, and put the disc into the holoviewer. A voice boomed over the speaker, as the Senate Main chamber resolved into being, in miniature. "The Chair recognizes the Senator from the sovereign system of Naboo."

"Palpatine is going to speak?" she asked him, and he nodded confirmation.

There was much sniping, and horrible displays of temper, and the camera's focus became the pod of the speaking delegation. Then, it came, the first of the moments that had forced the sealing of the records. In Sabé's voice, he heard the words, "I present Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker of the Jedi Order," and then the recording stopped.

"Wait—Luke? Luke wasn't even born yet when this happened, and you were, what, nine?"

He nodded, holding up his left hand, "In the Temple Healer's Ward, recovering from this."

She turned back to the information being presented, the look that always fascinated him, the one that said she was puzzling out what was going on. He sorted through the other discs in the box, looking for any other interesting tidbits, but finding none. There was some footage that had to be of the chase with Maul, or the fight with Maul, but he couldn't be sure as to which without viewing it. It served the same purpose as what she was already watching, though seeing him die was probably not the best way to go about trying to gain her understanding of the situation.

"I've seen the lightsaber battle before. Doesn't Ben die at the end, and become a part of the Force?" she asked him over the hum and occasional shouts coming from the holo.

"Not exactly," he said, and then he could hear Luke's voice clearly, shouting, 'Father!'

"Wait, that was Luke," she said as realization finally hit her, "You, you were Ben. I always thought that he looked familiar," she looked up at him, "But how?"

He shrugged. "We don't know. Not even Master Yoda knows. It is some mechanism of the Force."

"Time travel is possible through the Force?"

"Apparently," he said, gesturing at the holo. "The medical records are mine, or what used to be me, and perhaps Luke's. I don't know if he got any sort of medical treatment while we were dealing with Sidious or not."

She pressed the disc into the holoreader, and said, "Both. Luke was treated for Force Lightning after-effects, as were you, and…dear Force," she said as she started digging into his medical file. "You were lucky to live through some of this."

"Ah, true. I was not conscious for a couple of days after, and I was lucky to survive in the first place. Or it was just that the Force wasn't done with me yet," he said with a wry grin, and she looked at him, amazed.

"So, that, I remember this," he said, gesturing to the data discs that comprised three weeks in the past for the three of them, "The events that led up to the point of going back to there, I remember. You, I remember, though probably differently, considering that your Padawanship started during the Clone Wars. This life, with Padmé, in the Temple, where so many people don't die, I have not a clue as to what's happened."

"Well, Master, you do certainly have a way of getting yourself into the most awful of messes," she said, pulling out the disc in the holoreader and depositing the whole mess back into the box. "Put that away, and we'll go to my quarters. Without Nadina there it will be quiet enough, and we can talk."

"All right, Snips, but don't think this means I'm going to let you order me around," he told her, and she was relieved by his attempt at humor, the darkness unclouding from him for a moment.


	6. Finding truth

**AN: I am terribly sorry that it took so long for me to get this out, but I had two big problems. First was that this is 23 pages, and that takes some time to write, but I wanted to get all this in one chapter, and couldn't really find a good place to split it off. Second was everything except Liz's conversation was finished a month or so ago, and Liz did not deign to talk to me until last night. **

**I had some little problems too, among those helping Yoda1976 start two fics, which he's currently {abandoned} in favor of devoting himself to another project for a few weeks. He'll get back to them soon, I hope. **

**drmcatcher:hopefully this won't be too much for you, but with everyone off doing their own thing at the moment, it should break things down nicely for you :) last chapter's typos all fixed, and thanks. **

**whateveritis12:thanks for the fic recommendation, I'll be sure to check it out, but it will probably be this summer before I get to it. When Luke gets back from Ilum, I may have him and Anakin duel, it's an interesting thought. **

**Saimhe:Thanks!**

**Darth Sanctus: Thanks for reading, and remember: anything worth doing is worth doing well. I don't like seeing fics where the characters don't _do_ anything, or at least don't do anything interesting, new, or different. Why write something that's just a rehash of what's already come before when you can "Boldly go where..." well, you know.**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Jade-Skywalker Quarters, 39:4:3, sixth hour**

Luke sat on the living room floor on a pillow borrowed from the sofa. He was in a classic meditation pose, and he began to stretch out with his feelings as he'd done so often before. As with the last time he let his connection with the Force loose like this, he felt the vitality of Coruscant streamed into him, filling him with its strength, again he marveled just how abundant the energy was and how it seemed to want to pour into him. The planet seemed brighter this time. Hope was more prevalent, and he felt familial presences; they were, like his child growing in Mara's womb, familiar, but not. Familiar because they…he didn't have the word for it…smelled came closest, like Skywalkers, Leia's force presence, muted though it was, was the same way. He examined each of the signatures closely, starting with the one in closest physical proximity, Jasmine. Her Force aroma was definitely Skywalker, powerful, familiar, but it was flavored with other things. The closest he could come to describing it was a cinnamon flavored honey, each part of her complimented the other, if it was just one or the other it would be unbearable, either sweet or spicy. As it was she was…balanced was the best description for it he could come up with. He stopped examining her so closely and noticed something about his family; every one of them was a shining beacon in the Force, and even his Mother was brighter than any non-Force sensitive he'd known. Each of his siblings, even Leia with her muted Force signature, was as bright as his Father, though each in their own unique way, even his and Leia's unborn children shown with the same brilliance. That was interesting, but really wasn't helping him with his problem, his inability to remember anything of this history. Logically, he shouldn't expect to have any memories of the altered past, but the Force was telling him they were there. He just needed to know how to access them.

"Good morning," he heard.

"Good morning, Mara," he said, stretching and getting up, throwing the pillow back on the sofa.

"Any luck?" she asked as she watched him.

"No, I know the memories of this history are present, but I cannot access them, not yet anyway."

"Ok, I guess I shouldn't expect it to just happen," she said, obviously disappointed.

"We should get Jasmine up, its time to get ready to go," Luke said.

"All ready!" he heard an excited voice say, and Luke grinned in spite of his difficulties. _Ah, the enthusiasm of youth._

"Well, it seems we are holding my Padawan up, Mara," Luke said.

"Apparently so," Mara agreed, brightening a little.

"Jasmine, do you know how to do a preflight check?" Luke asked.

"You really don't remember, do you? I'm a Skywalker, even LIZ knows how to fly, Daddy made sure of it," she said.

"Ok, why don't you run down and get our ship prepped," Luke said.

"We'll be down there in a little bit," Mara added.

"How long of a little bit? Baby-making little bit, or a real little bit?" Jasmine said then caught herself, "I'm sorry Luke, I forgot."

Luke was reddening at his little sister's question, cleared his throat and asked," Why did you want to know?"

"So I'd know how much time I had, looks like I'll be doing just a standard preflight instead of a Skywalker special," Jasmine explained.

"Skywalker Special?" Luke looked bemused; Mara wasn't helping, having broken down into a fit of giggles.

"Jasmine, why is Mara laughing?" Luke asked.

"Ummm…she better explain, I'll see you at the hanger level," and Jasmine ran out the door.

"Come, my beloved, lets get ready and get down there before she gets bored and tears into something," Mara said, wiping her eyes of the tears her laughing had brought on.

Luke sighed long-sufferingly, having been the brunt of good-natured jokes before, and he picked up the case he'd packed before he'd started his meditation, and he stood in the doorway to her—their—bedroom, waiting for Mara to get her things and they left together.

* * *

**Coruscant, Senate Rotunda, Main Chamber, 39:4:3, tenth hour**

Padmé fought not to roll her eyes; she'd be glad when her term as Chancellor was over. Even Jae had been better behaved as a toddler than some of these Senators.

"Order! Order! The Senate will come to order!" Chis Bon, her aide said loudly. The Senate was debating what to do about the resurgence in Neimoidian piracy. Their Senator, of course was acting outraged at the mere mention of it.

"The Senator from the Sovereign System of Alderaan is now recognized," Padmé said.

"Madam Chancellor, fellow members of the Senate I come forward in favor of the bill to extend the authority to the Starfleet the ability to search any Neimoidian freighter for illegal weapons. Since the disillusion of their Trade Federation, the Neimoidian people have not been good citizens at all; preying on innocent traders as well has larger shipping concerns. I hope that these measures will be sufficient to get the people of Neimoidia to see that there are better ways of making a living than stealing from their fellow citizens," Bail Organa finished. He was the last one to make a speech one way or the other on the bill currently before the Senate. "The chair thanks the Senator from Alderaan. No more speeches have been requested it at this time, do I have a motion to move to previous question on the bill before the Senate?" Padmé asked; glad to finally be able to ask for the vote.

"If the Chancellor pleases, Kashyyyk would like to open the motion for previous question," the Wookiee Senator's translator droid said, with an undercurrent of the Senator's growling language.

"The Assembly of Mon Calamari seconds the motion to move to previous question by our esteemed college from Kashyyyk," the Mon Calamari Senator moved forward.

"The vote on the motion will be vocal, simple Aye or Nay. All of those in favor?" The chamber echoed with a bunch of ayes, but by no means an overwhelming majority. "And those opposed?" A near equal number voiced their opposition, hoping for more time to garner the votes needed to defeat the measure. Padmé was glad that she got to rule on this herself. "The Ayes have it, the motion carries," this was followed by booing by the side that lost.

"Order! Order! The Senate will come to Order!" Chis Bon shouted out again, once the Senator's quieted down Padmé spoke again.

"Voting will begin after a fifteen minute recess; the vote will end an hour after voting begins."

* * *

** Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Landing pad, 39:4:3, ninth hour**

Leia was not entirely comfortable with everything even though she was putting on her brave face for Han, but she had a duty to perform. In this, at least, her life hadn't changed one bit. No matter what was going on, no matter how she felt, there was a face that must be presented, a path that must be traveled in a particular way at a particular time. She smiled her smile of diplomacy and hiding, and she had learned to make it good enough; there were few people in her former life who could have told the difference between this and a true smile. She watched her husband talking with Master Mundi, who was Cerean. She had not had much contact with Cereans, and his enlarged head looked a bit strange to her. Master Mundi got on board the _Falcon_, and she shook her head, wondering if Han had won her in a Sabacc game with Lando in this time-line as well.

He came over to her, giving her a hug, which she returned. "Master Secura," he called out to someone over her shoulder, and she turned to see a Rutian Twi'lek headed in their direction. Though she was not dressed in traditional Jedi Robes, the way that the Twi'lek moved screamed Jedi to her.

"Just how many Jedi Masters do you know?"

He shook his head. "This is your Master," he told her in an undertone.

"My!…" she was speechless beyond that, but only the surprise in her tone betrayed what was going on within her.

"It is good to see you well, my friend," Master Secura said to Han with a warm handshake. "I do hope you will keep Master Mundi out of trouble."

"I do my best," he said, and turned back to Leia, kissing her on the cheek. "I will see you when I get home," he patted her bulging stomach. "And you two take your time. I want to be here when you decide to make your entrance."

She clung to him for a moment, wishing she didn't have to let him go, but she knew that this was duty as well, for both of them. "I love you," she said, and released him.

He gave her a crooked smile. "I love you, too. See you as soon as we can get away from Eriadu."

"Don't make a mess of things on my account."

"I am not in the negotiations directly, I'm just the pilot."

"I know. But you're never 'just' anything." He smiled at her again, and he walked away, pulling his fingers out of her hand. She faced the woman her husband had said was her Master.

"Hello, Leia'wa," she said. She knew enough of the Twi'lek language to realize that her 'name' would translate roughly to 'strength,' but the nuances of language escaped her for the moment.

"Master," she said, bowing her head respectfully. When she looked back up, there were tears in the woman's eyes.

"We have much to discuss, Padawan, come," Master Secura said. She wasn't really happy that this person she didn't know, had never known, was ordering her about, but she also realized that in this time-line, she was also probably the person she was closest to outside her family. It was a strange dichotomy and she pondered it as she squashed the resentful feelings about her Master's expectations of her.

"Where do you want to start, Master?" she asked, trying to be respectful and mindful of her position in the order, and her life now. They arrived at what Leia could only assume were her Master's quarters.

"I wish to hear from you what has happened to you," she said, and she sat, motioning for Leia to sit. Leia settled into a chair, and not on the sofa next to her Master, unsure of what she should be saying to this woman.

"I don't know where to start," she admitted after a moment.

Master Secura sighed. "Perhaps I should start then," she said, shifting to a more comfortable position on the sofa. "Yesterday Master Yoda contacted me, to tell me that he wanted to speak with me in person. I have done so, for several hours now. He explained, in general, what has happened to you, and by extension, to Anakin and Luke, as well. I understand that you lived a life outside of the Jedi Temple; in a horrific universe that I can only imagine the impact it had on you. The worst part, with you here, now, is that in your mind, you have spent the majority of your life completely unaware of your Force potential, and there is suspicion that your Force potential was suppressed intentionally. Even as I sit here, if I did not know that you were one of the most talented Padawans at this Temple, I would not think you were a bit Force-sensitive. I am connected to you, and I can't sense you through the Force, and you are only a meter or so away from me."

Leia shifted uncomfortably, knowing that Master Secura was probably correct. She just didn't know how to talk to this woman. She now felt truly sorry for Luke. He had this problem with the person he was _married_ to. "I think I feel lucky right now."

"Why is that, Leia'wa?"

"Because, I'm not Luke."

"And what is wrong with that?"

"I talked to him last night, and he's married to Mara."

"And?"

"We have never interacted with Mara, at least as far as I know. He doesn't know her."

"Ah, and you know Han?"

She shrugged. "He's not the same, but yes, we spent the last four years working to free the galaxy from the Empire together."

"So you feel that he has a bigger problem, since he has his wife to learn about, and you have only your Master?"

She flushed slightly, and nodded. "I don't know even who his Master is."

"Qui-Gon Jinn."

"Oh, I met him briefly, before. I liked him."

Master Secura nodded. "I'm worried about you, Leia'wa; you do not even know the power you possess. Do you even know where your lightsaber is?"

"I'm not sure what to look for," she admitted sheepishly.

"We will investigate your quarters later. For now you need to understand what it means to carry the name Skywalker," Master Secura said.

She reacted instinctively, the strain in her voice clear, "I know what it means to carry the name Skywalker, Master, it means pain. I watched Luke suffer under the burden of that name for years. I've reconciled myself that I carry that name too, but I'm still not sure if I want any part of what it means," Leia said.

Master Secura smiled, "You had a similar dilemma when you were younger. The simple fact is that the dampening that has been done needs to be undone. I assume something similar had been done to Luke, and then was undone when he began his training. Once this is done you need to learn basic control, of the type you learned when you were four."

"Why? Why not leave the block in place?" she asked. "I don't know that I really want to be a Jedi."

"Because, you are a Skywalker," she said simply, then at Leia's confused look, said, "Eventually, your potential will show through, and with the block in place it will push against it, then it will explode out, doing who knows what. All of Anakin's children have off-the-scale midi-chlorian counts, you included. We don't know what will happen if that power is unleashed, uncontrolled," Master Secura said.

"So my head will explode?" Leia asked, dubious.

"Not necessarily literately, but the effects could be far reaching, and while not necessarily resulting in your death, you might wish you were dead afterwards."

"So I have no choice in this?"

Master Secura got up, and moved over to her. She knelt in front of her chair, saying, "In the necessity of giving you basic training, I am afraid that no, you do not have a choice. If this change you have undergone means that you do not want to continue your training, that choice will be honored," she said, looking very sad, but then she perked up, "This is a conversation that I've had with you before. You, I hope, are not so different now that you will not reach the same conclusion."

"Well, I suppose that there is no time like the present."

Master Secura stood, and offered her hand to Leia. She considered it for a moment, and then took her master's hand. "Good. Perhaps first we should find your utility belt, and lightsaber."

"I suppose that's as good a place to start as any."

* * *

**Coruscant, Lower Levels, 39:4:3, tenth hour**

Cedric walked through the area that had been purchased by the Senate for the use of the group of slaves his brother had freed, with the help of his father and his brother-in-law, though he hadn't been that at that time. This was the mission Han had been assigned to just before going to Askaj with Leia and Master Secura. In fact, he'd been pulled off that to take on the Askaji civil war, once Luke and his father had been relegated to clean-up duties concerning the slaving ring that they had busted up. Han could do an impressive bit of flying, even in comparison to some of the members of his family. Han couldn't out-fly Luke or his father, but he had yet to meet the pilot, Force-sensitive or not, who could. Julia might be able to take them on once she got a bit more experience under her wings, but she couldn't do it yet.

This was the crowning feather, at least in the eyes of the public. They were calling Luke 'the Liberator' for this and half dozen similar missions over the last five years. Most of the freed slaves this time had been Twi'lek, and the large number of them had made finding them homes, or finding their families, should they have any, nearly impossible. This slave ring had been operating for long enough that there were young adults within their numbers who had been born slaves, who knew nothing else. The problem had been put before various people, and the Senate finally purchased this area within Coruscant's under-levels to provide them a home while they came to grips with their situations. A number of them had already raised ship and headed into the wider galaxy, but the majority had remained, and the community was beginning to prosper. It didn't hurt that Ci had taken them into her heart as well, and when it was suggested that she begin her real-world training in triage, she decided to begin here. They had freed not less than ten thousand slaves, and that was the makings of a large city on Tatooine, and at least a small one on Naboo.

The former slaves hadn't taken well to the move, but the slave ring had held them on Hoth, about the most inhospitable place on the galaxy, and they wouldn't have had the wherewithal to maintain the equipment to keep them from freezing to death, let alone what they were going to do to make enough money to buy food, replacement parts, and whatever else that they would need. It had taken them a while to adjust, and to realize that they were allowed to do as they pleased with the area. He'd been with Ci the day that she'd made comments about how much she liked what had been done with a particular area. He hadn't seen any difference, but he also wasn't down there that often. He could see the light shining in the girl's eyes as Celia told her how nice the building that they had fixed up looked. The next time he'd gone, a week later, the entire area had been transformed, and he did notice. He also commented that he liked the changes he was seeing, and it was shortly thereafter that the first shop opened in the section.

"Master Jedi," one of the younger ones, with olive green skin, said to him with a bow.

"Hello. I am looking for my sister."

"Mistress Jedi is not in trouble?"

"Why would she be in trouble?" he frowned. _Not again,_ the thought came unbidden.

"Your forgiveness, Master Jedi."

He sighed. "What did she do?"

"She was out with the quick healers," and by this she meant the medics that Celia went on runs with, emergency responders, "And two who are vile attempted to shoot her, and so she did what Jedi do," this being a nice way to say she probably beat the blinking snot out of them.

"And?"

"While she questioned one, the other, son of a schutta that he is, ran off. The first is in custody at the local authorities."

"So?"

"Mistress Jedi is not in trouble for this?"

"No, I'm here to tell her I'm leaving for a while. I have to go to another planet."

She ducked her head. "Mistress Jedi is always sad when you are gone, Master Jedi."

He nodded. "I miss her, too. I hope I won't be gone for very long, but Master Ti isn't hopeful."

"Mistress Jedi is in the place where the quick healers stay," she told him, "May the light of the world shine upon you."

"And you," he told her. "Thank you for your help."

"It is my pleasure, Master Jedi," she told him as she walked away.

He walked in the direction of the medics' home base, and, while many of the residents recognized him, smiled, and waved at him, none of the rest chose to speak to him.

He wasn't as popular or important here as his brother was, as Celia was. It was fine with him. He, like most Jedi, shunned the media, fame, and popularity. Some of his siblings had learned to make it work for them, such as here. The residents here became used to having a Jedi around, and once they became used to the Jedi, they also began to rely on the Jedi for advice.

It made him a bit concerned, because there would come a day that Celia and Luke wouldn't have time for this little project, but they seemed to be asserting their independence as they gained confidence in their abilities as beings in the galaxy. Luke and Celia had both done a good job of fostering their own ability to make decisions and to have confidence with those decisions.

It was slowly coming to the point where he really felt good about this place, walking through here, allaying his fears about the future of these people. When he thought through the big picture, it made more sense, because, in a sense, every being in the galaxy was dependant on the Jedi to do their jobs and to do them well. The Jedi were integral to the proper functioning of the galaxy, and because of that, it was simply a microcosm in the greater galaxy. These people were physically dependant on the Jedi, and Coruscant in general, for a while. But they wouldn't be for much longer, and yet they would still be dependant on the Jedi, because the Jedi were the grease the kept the servos of the galaxy working together in harmony. He was at the emergency dispatch center, having been lost in thought most of the way there. He shook his head, trying to clear it. _She_ made him more introspective, more analytical, judging harshly every emotion he felt.

The door opened, and he wasn't sure what was going on, at first, but then clarity came and he wished it hadn't. "Celia," he whined, and he knew he was whining. He also knew that he probably sounded worse than Jaedrea had yesterday morning at breakfast. He put his hand over his face to better cover his eyes from the sight that was currently offending them. "I don't mind you kissing guys, but could you at least try not to do it when I'm around?"

She blushed a proper shade of pink for grossing out her twin. "Cedric!" she exclaimed, and he stifled a laugh. "What are you doing here?" she asked when her brain had sufficiently recovered to catch up.

"I was going to tell you something, but seeing that you have more important things that you're doing," he said severely backing up slightly, trying to keep from laughing.

By this point the med-tech had disappeared into another room. Cedric really didn't blame him; Skywalker tempers were famously—or perhaps infamously—nasty. "Cedric," she blushed again, chastising him, and the fit of laughter finally got the better of him, and he plopped onto the sofa that had just been vacated. "You are a terrible brother."

Once he regained control of himself, he said, "You know you wouldn't be the same without me around."

She sighed, and crossed her arms, and said, "If I didn't love you so much I wouldn't put up with you. Sometimes I wonder if I love you enough to put up with all the grief you cause me."

"Aw, come on, Ci," he said pleadingly. "You know I only tease you so much because I love you more."  
"Is that what it is?" she asked wryly. "Mom would have your hide if she knew what you did to me on a regular basis."

"I think she knows more than she lets on. She's got a sister, too, you know."

"Aunt Sola has nothing on a Skywalker," she said, and then turned serious. "So why are you here? I know you couldn't get excused from the Senate just to come torment me."

"Master Ti and I are headed for Shiava to assist in trade negotiations."

Celia thought for a moment. "Where is that?"

The Seswanna Sector."

She nodded, "I am going to miss you, brother," she told him fiercely.

"I know, but I shouldn't be gone long. It sounds like it should be pretty straightforward," Cedric told her, then after a pause, he turned to another subject, "So, that boy you were kissing," Cedric started, and Celia blushed again.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Tano Quarters, 39:4:3, thirteenth hour**

Anakin sat down in one of Ahsoka's common room chairs, as she settled into the sofa. He felt a small amount of surprise from her. He tried harder to settle his own agitation, but he wasn't going to be able to, so he settled for throwing it down one of the many holes in his soul, and putting a heavy grate over it. It could still scream in rage at him, but he would have a bit of time before he had to deal with it again. Ahsoka looked at him, as though she was trying to figure out some strange beastie that they had come across. "Master Yoda said you had changed. I hadn't realized just how much. You normally wouldn't try to sit still, as tense as you are."

"Perhaps. But whether or not I can sit still and have a decent conversation isn't the point."

"Well, it's part of the point. I started having some very troubling visions about a year ago. I went to Master Yoda about it, and he said that you were the person who would be able to explain them to me, if the time was ever right for me to know. I even asked you about them at the time, and you seemed as genuinely troubled about them as I was, and I know you well enough to know that you weren't trying to fake me out of learning about my visions."

"And now Master Yoda has told you that it is time to learn about the truth behind your visions?" She nodded, and he settled back in the chair a little more. "Alright, Snips, let's hear it. Can't be any worse than the last twenty or so years of my life."

She looked at him crossly, and took a breath. "Some of it's very abstract, but I think they have something to do with the timeline you came from," she said, and he nodded. "The first one, I think, was the box of ice. Leia was trapped inside, but she wasn't dressed like I've ever seen her dressed. She was in a white flowing dress, like some of the Senators wear, and her hair was done up the way that Padmé does most of the time. I rather thought I had it figured out until a few days ago, when some of the sounds that I'd been missing coalesced into real words. I didn't recognize the voice, but it was deep and raspy. That was the voice I heard most, and the one that made me feel the strangest. It's like it was familiar, but not. Anyway, so the voice called Leia 'Princess Organa.'"

Anakin sighed. She was pulling information she had no need of from what he currently considered his past. "And why did you think you'd figured it out up until you heard the name she was being called?"

Ahsoka shrugged uncomfortably. "She spent a couple of months on Belsavis. Trapped. It's icy."

"What else?"

"You aren't going to explain?"

"I'm going to reserve judgment until I have a better idea of what direction your visions are taking you."

She frowned at him, but he returned the look calmly until she continued. "The other thing that really stuck out to me the first few times, was the picture I was getting of Cedric. He still doesn't look quite as old to me as he does in these visions, but he's getting closer. He looks so haunted, and it breaks my heart to see the little boy I spent so much time raising and loving and teaching in so much pain," she curled up tighter on herself, and thought for a moment as to how to approach the subject. "Cedric is holding a child. I can see that much, though I can't see the child. The baby is his; you know how you just sometimes know things in visions?"

"I know," he said, and he did, probably more deeply than she realized.

"He's not old enough, not nearly for what he's doing, but he's as stubborn as you and Padmé put together, and I suspect that's where a good deal of his future pain is going to come from." Anakin raised an eyebrow at this, and felt the gesture to be completely, utterly unnatural. He scrubbed his face to make the sensation go away, and looked at her again, gesturing for her to continue. "I don't know that there's much more to say about Cedric."

"All right," Anakin said. "I don't like the sound of that. What else?"

"Glutton for punishment today, aren't we?" she asked, and he smiled unpleasantly. "There was one time I saw Luke, and he was standing on one of those barge things that float around Tatooine, holding a green lightsaber."

Anakin nodded. "And?"

"Luke has never had a green lightsaber. All of his have been blue."

"All?"

"Well, he's better at keeping hold of his than Master Obi-Wan says you were, but he still has lost his 'saber a dozen times or so."

"What else?" he prompted her.

"Obi-Wan dying at the hand of a being in a black suit. Him chasing Luke from here to the Outer Rim and back," Ahsoka told him. He grew unnaturally still, and his silent, calculating look prompted her to continue. "I didn't know his name for a long time, but I did eventually discover it. His name is Lord Vader. I tried doing some research on him on my own, but he's like a buttered shaak to try to pin down. I found a couple of references to his armor and lightsaber being in the Sith Artifact Room, and I've looked at those, and they seem right, but I don't understand how his presence is real, but it's like he's a phantom. I can't find one reference as to how the Temple acquired his armor and lightsaber, while at the same time no one I've talked to has no idea how those things got there. Most of the older Masters tell me that his stuff wasn't there when they were younglings, and if they had to point to a time, it would be around the time of the Great Debate, but no one gets any more specific than that. I know that Master Qui-Gon knows more, and I think Master Obi-Wan knows more."

Anakin laughed softly at the thought, and she looked quizzically at him. "Obi-Wan knows quite a bit more than Qui-Gon about the situation, I think, but I find it interesting that he's hidden it better from you."

She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him. "So now, not only do you have a good idea what I'm talking about, you know who's been hiding stuff from me?"

"I know a little," he admitted, "I'm interested in what other moments your visions have seen fit to show you. Continue."

"Ok, There was this one, Leia kissing Luke."

His eyes flew wide open as he sat up much more straight. _"What?"_

She shrugged. "I don't know. That really wasn't any stranger than Leia in a metal bikini."

It was his turn to roll his eyes. "Two things I really didn't want to know about," he said, and gestured for her to continue.

"At least I got an honest reaction out of you for those. You aren't acting like yourself. There was one scene of fighting between Lord Vader and Luke. I couldn't hear what they were saying to each other, but they were up on a catwalk fighting each other, and the fight ended with Vader cutting Luke's hand off, and Luke pitching himself off the end of the catwalk. I didn't realize that Luke got all dramatic like that."

"Only for Vader," Anakin told her. "He's really pretty level-headed otherwise, considering."

"I don't suppose you want to tell me what you know about this Vader character, do you?"

"No, not really, but I don't think I'm going to have a choice but to satisfy your curiosity. However, I'm supposed to be providing perspective on visions, and I know you aren't done yet."

She gave him her fierce look, and she ALMOST crossed her arms and pouted like she had done when she was his Padawan, but he remained unmoved. "There was this big space ball," she said pausing as she considered how to describe it. "I'm not sure that I could describe the size in a believable fashion. But it had a big dent in one side. It blew up a planet, Master."

His jaw tensed as he realized the exact incident that she was describing. "Anything else?"

She nodded, her body singing with tension from his tone. He mentally shook himself, and backed off the edge of anger he'd come across. After all, it wasn't her fault she was seeing horrors from the other side of his life. "The last one is the strangest, and the one I am having the most trouble accepting as being true in any fashion. I see you, but it's like you're indistinct, fuzzy. There's something wrong, but I'm not sure what. Then the fuzziness limits itself to half of you, and that half becomes wraith-like, ghostly, indistinct. I hear a gong sound, and suddenly, the indistinctness is gone, but you've been split in two, right along the same line. The part that was distinct before starts to fall away from the other part, and I know that it's up to me to put you back together, to marry the two halves."

She was quiet after that, and he was glad, for once that his Padawan knew him well enough to realize he needed a little time to organize his thoughts. "Well, I don't think I'm going to be able to clear up everything in your visions, but I think I can hit the major points."

"Why not?"

"I wasn't there for all of it."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, I think it will be clear enough in a few minutes," he said, getting up to pace at last. "I woke up this morning, and I thought I was dreaming. This has been the most pleasant day I've had in a very long time. The most horrible day that you've seen me go through is infinitely better than the best day of the last twenty-four years of my life as I remember it. I've told you about being thrown into the past, and the changes that were wrought with the Massacre at the Senate are profound. If that hadn't happened, you, me, and most everyone we know would be dead. Well, Luke and Leia would have lived through it. Barely, and not for anything that I did to help them."

"Jazzy?"

He thought a moment, and realized she was referring to his youngest daughter. "Never born. If what feels like reality inside my head had been allowed to come into fruition, Padmé would have died shortly after giving birth to Luke and Leia. They were split up, and only in the last year or so came to know their true relationship to one another. That probably explains the kiss that disturbs you so.

"I doubt it got any further than that, because their relationship as it stands seems quite solid," he thought for a moment. "I can't comment on her running around in a metal bikini, but the white Senatorial dress is because she was an Imperial Senator for about a year before the Emperor dissolved the Senate. I don't know why she was in a block of ice, but I can think of a couple of things that it could mean in the abstract, and even one or two in the physical.

"The planet that was blown to pieces by the Death Star, which was about the size of a Class IV moon, so I don't think you could exaggerate in your description of the size of it, was Alderaan, home of Bail Organa and his adopted daughter, Leia."

"That's awful," she said, and he could see her struggling with even the possibility that the galaxy had turned into the ugly place he was describing.

"She was watching, and every indication that I have is that Bail was on the planet when it blew," he told her, watching her reaction from the corner of his eye, not really ready to truly look at her while he described the opening atrocity of the Galactic Civil War. The Death Star is also where the fight between Vader and Obi-Wan happened. It was blown up not too long after that. The catwalk fight with Luke, that was where he lost the blue lightsaber he was holding, in the hand that was cut off, yes?"

"How did you know?"

"We'll get there. He replaced that lightsaber with a green one. Probably the only crystals he could get a hold of. The Empire was very funny about people trying to get lightsaber-grade crystals."

"What about Cedric?"

"Shaak Ti was telling me that Cedric's been having nightmares, the kind I have, where the Force is screaming through me, telling me what's going to happen, where the path has been set, by whatever hand. I don't know if there is a way to avoid the situation that is presented or not. It is most generally a most unpleasant state of affairs, and I have yet to have one of these nightmares not come true."

"They don't always come true, Master. Remember your dreams of your mother."

"Those are the ones I wish I could forget most," he said, looking away from her.

"But they didn't come true, Master."

He turned slowly and stared at her. "What?"

"They didn't come true. Master Obi-Wan took you out to Tatooine the night the visions started; like he knew how true they would come if nothing was done. By the time you got there, Cliegg and some of the other people who lived in Mos Espa went out to look for her, and you were only just in time to save the majority of them from being slaughtered. Your step-father suffered some pretty bad injuries, and your mother had been beaten, and was somewhat dehydrated, but you and Master Obi-Wan were able to load them up in the ship the two of you took out there, and bring them back here for treatment. They both lived. As a matter of fact, your mother is still living with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. They took in Clarini a year or so after Luke and Leia were born. Aunt Beru can't have babies, and Clarini's sister was tested into the same clan as Luke and Leia, but their parents were killed in a speeder accident just after the four of them came to Coruscant. Clarini hasn't got a high enough midi-chlorian count to be a Jedi, but we couldn't find any of his relatives, so Owen and Beru took him in, and Eralan comes with us all when we go to Tatooine, so they know each other," she smiled at the look on his face. He didn't know if he was more surprised, joyous, excited or grateful. "It isn't something that we've had to deal with since, but I guess the idea was that if a situation presented itself that benefited all parties, and the youngling was young enough, then the decision would be made for them, and I don't think that any child could be more loved than he is."

He nodded, and tried to get his mind back on focus. "So, apparently the nightmare Cedric had was in line with what you just told me, though probably far more specific."

"And the last one?" she asked softly when he didn't continue.

"Well, it looks like your gong just sounded, Snips. I don't know how or why you've been tasked with putting me back together, but I believe that it's more my memory than anything that's suffered in this case."

"And Vader?"

"Ah, yes, can't forget about Vader," he said, his voice heavy with irony. "The reason that you find no record of Vader is that he doesn't exist, well, outside of a few memories. You see," he said, facing her, and sitting down, "Vader is who I used to be, and the reason that my life has been so terrible since the day that the twins were born."

* * *

**Camaas, homestead, 39:4:3**

Elizabeth was uncertain that she was ready to do this on her own, but she had Master Aloun there with her. "Come on," he said, "I know you're getting anxious, and standing here is only going to make it worse."

She sighed, knowing he was right, and advanced into the house.

The family behind the door was a very happy bunch. She felt genuine warmth of spirit as she walked in, and an older woman who reminded her of her grandmother greeted her. "Hello, Master Aloun," she said, and then turned to Elizabeth. "Who is this?"

"Elizabeth Skywalker," she introduced herself.

"Ah, Skywalker. That's a good Jedi name, now isn't it?"

She smiled. "I suppose so. Dad tends to be a bit more well-known outside the Coruscanti Temple than the rest of us."

"I imagine so, dear. He's a bit older than you, isn't he?"

"Yes," she said, and they moved into the house where the rest of the family was sitting, including several younglings.

"My name is Carissa Trebondri, and this is my daughter, Myrrissa, and her husband Selek," the grandmother, probably for the majority of this large family, told her.

"Elizabeth Skywalker," she said, shaking each of their hands in turn, "I suppose now I see why I was chosen to come see you."

"Why do you think that is, dear?" Myrrissa asked, and she had a very motherly way about her, as though she would mother and worry over people whether they were her children or not, and she understood, because she was like that in a lot of ways.

"Well, you seem to have quite a large clan here, and being part of that takes some understandings that some people just won't have. I'm the third of eight, and we have very close ties outside our own family as well, with Master Kenobi's family, and Master Jinn as well."

"I see. I'm sure that most Jedi families aren't so extensive yet. That is one reason that we are a bit apprehensive about going to Coruscant, even though Master Aloun insists that is Jydan's placement."

"I can't tell you much about the placement testing, as I haven't personally conducted any of it, for any youngling. But I think one of the reasons that Coruscant may be ideal for you is that the families aren't extensive yet, but there are a few that are starting their second generation. Jydan will be in class with several of those, if I'm not mistaken. Kennis Burtola is Master Kenobi's grandson, and he is two. My older sister is getting ready to have twins, and my older brother's wife announced that she was pregnant the day that I left. That baby will be five or six months younger, and may be put into another clan from the Solo twins, but that may be a good thing. The order is growing rapidly right now, and while there are many right now who are, like you, just joining the larger Jedi family, there are an increasing number of families who have been part of the order all of their lives, and those people reach out and bring people into their clans, because that is the way of the Jedi. And the Clans, the classes that each youngling is assigned to, are like another kind of family. Each clan is twenty students, and they go through all of the Initiate classes together."

"What about your clan?" Carissa asked.

"Each youngling joins the Clan on the day that they are prepared to begin their classes, even though each clan is set long before that, though not so long as it used to be. We have no requirement that younglings be any certain age to become Initiates any longer. I had spent a good deal of time in the crèche with the other younglings of my Clan, more than most who have parents living at the Temple, because Mom tended to use the crèche as a babysitter, especially when Dad was off saving the Galaxy with Master Kenobi or Master Tano, or sometimes both. Mom took her duties as Senator of Naboo seriously, and we all respect her for that, but it means that all of us, probably my littlest sisters especially, are closer to Dad than we are to Mom. Dad never shirked his duties as a Jedi, but I suppose that the Order took up duties that they had been neglected at a slower rate so that Jedi had more time off if they had families. We all seem to have families right now. The Order has triple the total number of members that it had even fifty years ago."

"You didn't answer the question, dear."

"Oh," she blushed, embarrassed. "My first day with my Clan was when I was four, and I was third in the class. There were two others, Ralz and Yelqu, and the first class of the day was learning about the history of the Jedi Order from Master Nu. I am amazed sometimes at how long that woman lived. She was ancient when I was a youngling, and she died about a year ago. We had much fun together, trying to sneak things behind her back, but she was very good at catching us. She didn't take nonsense from anyone, but especially me. I suppose she thought if I could be taken to task quickly enough, I wouldn't be like my father," she sighed, and started to continue, but was interrupted by the mother, Myrrissa.

"So some of your Jedi hold prejudices?"

"They are beings, just like any other, and yes, we discourage treating anyone differently from any other, but that's just not practical. And Daddy tends to be a lightning rod."

Myrrissa laughed, reassured by the idea that those of the Temple were still beings in their own right, as Elizabeth was herself. "What is it exactly that you do at the Temple, anyway?"

"Oh, my job is, I think, one of the most interesting there. I, and my Master, work with the incoming younglings, their families, if they have them, and the crèche, the real home of every youngling until they become Initiates. If they have families, they are only at the crèche part-time, some only a couple of hours a day, only a day or two a week, and some of them, especially the ones who have two Jedi parents, will stay full-time at the crèche for weeks at a time, and sometimes not spend any time there while one or both of their parents are home. My sister-in-law was one of the latter, though she's a bit older than me, but she's been close to our family since Luke set his heart on her when he was four. Sometimes she would stay with us while she was an Initiate, even though she was supposed to stay in the Initiate dorms. Those can be a little scary, if there aren't many people there, but, like the crèche, there are several Jedi monitoring the area and the younglings through the afternoon and the night."

"Do you work with the Initiates at all?"

"I don't right now, but I will once I become a Knight. I'll still mostly be in the crèche. There are quite a number of beings now, Jedi and non-Jedi both, who work with, teach, monitor and take care of our Initiates. For Jydan, that's going to be from the time he turns four until he's chosen as a Padawan, which might be as late as fifteen."

"And the families?"

"Well, a number of family members have started taking over roles that were formerly done by outside workers, droids, and sometimes even Jedi. There are a number of functions that Jedi have taken care of in the Temple that don't require the skills of a Jedi to do them, but there have almost always been Jedi who have been willing to do them, Like Master Nu, who was our librarian. There are other positions, like gardeners, teachers for subjects like math and galactic history, janitors and other Temple maintenance positions that mostly get done from within the Jedi family."

"So, what kind of learning do the younglings do as Initiates?"

"Well, they get a first-rate education, as well as any other children you might have, regardless of their Force-potential, and no matter what happens, they will be permitted to, or perhaps I should say required to, finish secondary school. Most Jedi have university-equivalent educations courtesy of the Temple's teachers. The Initiate-level classes are mixed—both Jedi and non-Jedi—with only their lightsaber and basic Force classes being Jedi-only. It's done in a block-scheduling plan for the first five or six years. Four different blocks, each taught twice a week, with Fifth Day off. For Jedi younglings, that usually means supervised unstructured practice, or homework, or both, but it's a rewarding life, and most younglings take to it well."

"So one class in the morning and one in the afternoon?"

"Yes, until they go to a modified university-style scheduling. They can take up to eight classes a week at that point, though it's not recommended."

"Do you know anyone who does?"

"My brother Cedric did consistently up until he convinced his Master that interning at Senate would be good for him about a year ago, and now he takes several afternoon classes, but is doing his internship in the mornings."

"Oh, my. He's quite the scholar then?"

"Yes, he's made perfect marks all though school, and he's sixteen now."

"That's quite a feat," Myrrissa said. Her mother handed her a small bundle that resonated through the Force.

"Yes; our family is quite good in most of our Force classes, but not all of us have as equal fervor in the more mundane classes."

"I see," Carissa said, and Elizabeth turned her attention to the head of the clan.

"Is there something else you would like to know about? I'm here to answer any question that you have as honestly as possible."

"Myrrissa isn't going to say anything, but I know she's worried about, as I am, the very martial nature of the Coruscanti Temple. If I had my say in it, Jydan would be going either to the Temple here, or to Alderaan."

"We are not any less loving of peace than any other Jedi, though the Jedi that tend to get media attention are the ones who, like my father, go in slashing with a lightsaber and asking why later, at least on the surface. The story that doesn't get told is how he and his master were for a long time the Temple's team of last resort, only getting sent to the most dire of situations, including ones where Jedi had already failed to negotiate peace because the parties involved were not acting in good faith or who didn't want peace in the first place. There are even a number of missions that Dad went on where they were going into a situation blind because the Temple had lost contact with the Jedi who was supposed to be handling the situation and they didn't know what was happening at all."

"Tell me more about some of these 'dire situations' of yours."

Liz considered for a moment. "Before my father became a Padawan, he traveled with Master Jinn and Master Kenobi for a time."

"Is that usual?"

"It's only unusual in the way that he came to travel with them," she started, and related the story of how dangerous the mission to Naboo had been for Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. "It is imperative that we are able to defend ourselves; though some do so in more spectacular ways than others," she concluded.

"Are you sure you aren't trying to talk us out of this entirely?" Selek asked, speaking up for the first time.

"No, just trying to ensure that you have realistic expectations of what will be going on."

"So, I'm curious," Selek continued, "About this Padawan role."

"Oh, each youngling in the Temple, once they hit a certain age, and for Humans that is ten, may be chosen by a Master to become that being's special apprentice, or Padawan."

"What happens if they are not chosen?"

"It happens occasionally, but we make every effort to find a suitable master for each Initiate, including pairing them off with available Knights and Masters from other Temples for one or two missions."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"They have options. They may continue to train as a Force user, and it mostly depends on what they want. Before families were involved, if a youngling wasn't chosen, they would go to one of the three Jedi Corps, depending on their aptitudes, and spend their life in service in that capacity. That is still an option for younglings who aren't suited to the diplomatic lightsaber-wielding Jedi Knight. Even Jedi Knights don't always take on that role. I won't be doing much of anything different than I am now when I become a Knight myself, but I do know how to use my lightsaber effectively, and won't hesitate to do so if the situation warrants it."

"You would attack someone?"

"I would defend myself if I were attacked. I doubt any Jedi would attack another being unless there were very strange circumstances surrounding such an event."

"There are stories about your father…"

Elizabeth laughed. "There are always stories about my father; he's very photogenic, and has great difficulty hiding his emotions. He has learned not to permit them to sway his actions, and that is the most we ask of any Jedi. I'm sure whatever story you heard was exaggerated to the most dramatic possible interpretation while sticking as close to the facts as necessary to keep the Holohounds from investigating whatever story they were running for sensationalism."

He nodded. "I hadn't thought of it in just that way."

"Most people don't; the mental image most people have of Jedi is a far cry from the reality. We make mistakes, and we own up to them; it only complicates the problem if we don't. We learn early that the galaxy is a hard place, and we see more of it than most anyone else, even the majority of pilots."

"What about jobs for the parents?" Carissa asked.

"As I said," Elizabeth started, "Quite a number of our family members work in the Temple Complex in various capacities. Some families decide to only have one parent working and the other stay home; those are usually larger families. Sometimes both parents work outside the Temple. Some work as pilots, and really any job that a being feels qualified for is available on Coruscant. Mom has served her planet for many years, and she loves her work. I think that's really all we ask, is that you find something that you enjoy doing. The NFS apartments are not really expensive, especially considering the rates some of the other properties in the area of the Temple are priced at. Food is provided at the Temple mess halls, or you can purchase your own; even Jedi do that on occasion. We do require everyone to be productive in some capacity; stagnation is the surest way to die. It may not be a physical death, but it doesn't have to be."

Silence followed the answer; she had talked a bit about every aspect of life at the Temple that she could think of, at least in general terms. There was more she could say, much more, but she didn't want to overwhelm them with too much information. It was Master Aloun who finally spoke. "Well, it is getting rather late, and if you don't mind, we will take our leave, and we will return tomorrow, and discuss this some more?"

"Yes," Carissa said slowly, "I think that might be good. We would like to offer you an invitation to stay for dinner, if you are able to do so?"

He looked obliquely at Liz and she nodded slightly. Most beings wouldn't have picked up the interaction at all, but she could see that Carissa had. She was really starting to like this family, and if young Jydan took after his grandmother at all, it would be a very good thing for the Jedi, should he choose to become one of their members.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Solo Quarters, 39:4:3**

Leia was not particularly happy with her current situation. Not that she could do much about it other than muddle through. And hope. And remember that her Master wasn't _trying _to make her life a mess.

She glanced over at her Master as she keyed the door open. She hadn't even gotten around to asking her what her first name was. She assumed that she was probably on a first-name basis with the Twi'lek Master, but it was hard for her to judge at this point.

She entered the room, heading for a lamp by the sofa, but before she could reach it, the overhead lights brightened and Leia turned to look at her Master. "I suppose I should learn where the light switches are."

"You've only had something over a day to adjust. It is not necessary to learn everything at once."

"Right, so would you know where I keep my gear?" she said with a sudden exhalation.

"I imagine it's in your bedside table," Master Secura said, and Leia opened the adjoining door to the room that she has specified.

She went in, and pulled open the drawer on the left side of the bed, and found the utility belt and lightsaber. She brought both out, and she tried to mask her apprehension at actually using the tools for their specified purpose. There was something, though, that made her feel like it was only right and natural that she have these things, that she used them. "I think I've found what you were wanting me to," she said, holding the items as though they were going to bite her.

Master Secura sighed. "Leia'wa, these are your tools, these are the things that keep you alive when you are in danger."

Leia sighed. She understood the intellectual part of it, but to the rest of her, it was less than her own ideal of what she wanted to be doing with the rest of her life. She set the lightsaber down and looked over the utility belt. It was a fairly hefty belt, with lots of pockets. She squeaked and nearly dropped it as a muted beep came out of one of the pockets.

Master Secura shook her head and pulled the flap up on one of the pockets, and brought out a comlink. "Well," she said, looking down at the offending object as she turned the message reminder off, "That's one mystery solved."

"Certainly, Master."

"You had no idea that your comlink was going off for two days, did you?"

She sighed. "No, I am sure that I would have investigated last night if I'd heard it."

Master Secura nodded, and took the belt from her, laying out all the items that were contained in it. She explained them to Leia's satisfaction, and Leia settled the belt into place over her robes. She was reaching for her lightsaber, when she reacted without thinking. The lightsaber slapped against her palm and was on, and cut through a small rubber ball that her Master had just hurled at her. "Hmmm. Only two pieces," Master Secura said, walking over and taking the lit emerald blade from her, turning it off, and laying it on her lap as she sat down.

"I don't understand what just happened, Master."

"Oh, it is a game that we play from time to time, to ensure that your reaction speed is up to par. Normally you can get that ball into sixteen pieces before it hits the ground, though with the block we were talking about earlier, I suppose I should be happy that you were able to hit it at all."

"So what can we do about this block?"

"Well, as it is obviously not keeping your Force-sense totally contained, we must rid ourselves of it, but as to how, I'm afraid that we will have to do some trial and error attempts, because, from what I know of this alternative history that you come from, the most likely person to have put a block on you is unavailable to speak with about it."

"Why is that?"

"Because, no matter who did it, and I personally think it was Obi-Wan, from what I know, he will not be able to remember having done it, though perhaps we could get some insight from talking to him. Unfortunately, he is leaving for New Ralltiir today."

"Oh," Leia said, defeated.

"Perhaps some meditation would be a good place to start," she suggested, and she handed Leia her lightsaber so that she could attach it to her utility belt before they got started.

* * *

**In Orbit above Garos IV, **_**Lightbringer,**_** 39:4:3**

Siri settled back into the pilot's seat, smiling a little to herself. Ash was just about to go stir crazy on her, and she could feel Nadina's trepidation as they approached the planet. She connected her mind to Nadina as they entered the atmosphere, and she sent soothing thoughts to the poor girl. Ahsoka hadn't been given a choice in going back to Coruscant, but then, neither had Ash been given much of a choice in going along with her. It had been early in the morning—just after she normally got up—that they'd been sent off to collect Nadina. She'd been instructed that she'd be leaving, but she hadn't been given a destination until she was almost ready to leave.

"I still don't see why I had to come along," Ash said to her as he settled into the co-pilot's seat. He was just as itchy about flying as Anakin had been when he'd been the boy's age. Not that Ash was much of a boy anymore. He was a Senior Padawan, close to his knighting.

"Because Master Yoda said you did."

He sighed. That was the most answer he was going to get until he got home. She knew few details, but she did know in general what had happened, and had surmised the reason Ash was being sent away from his Master. Anything would have done, she suspected, but Ash needed to be off planet for a little while. There was no limit specified on how long this trip should be, and if Nadina had actually finished the details she was supposed to have nailed down, there would be no reason for them to stay, but she could probably find something diversionary for the two Padawans to do while their Masters discussed things that they didn't need to be involved in just yet. "I understand that, but I was wondering if you knew what reason he had for sending me, in particular, off, with not even a good-bye to my Master."

"Oh. Not really. I have some theories, but none of them concrete enough to share with you."

He considered her words, and the truth behind those words. She didn't have concrete proof of what was going on, nor did she have the ability to share with him, but those two things together didn't make quite the same thing as what she said they did. He shook his head, finally, declining to pursue the issue. "I don't doubt that, but you at least have something to base this on."

"Of course. Nearly thirty more years of dealing with Master Yoda."

Ash, had he been Human, would have probably rolled his eyes. Whether or not he could or did, wasn't something that Siri paid a particular amount of attention to, but the emotions he was projecting were similar. She really wasn't trying to frustrate him, but understanding about this particular subject was going to come slowly, and, quite likely, painfully. She wasn't about to raise that issue until it couldn't be avoided.


	7. Is this how we do it?

**AN:An update at last. **

**Thanks to everyone for the insightful and helpful comments and reviews, I really appreciate them. To Sword Slinger:1) Yes, that was and still is the plan for "Book 3" 2)no. 3) several of the younger Skywalkers have love interests who are not Force-sensitive, so maybe. To Leyte: Mara and Luke's history is something I skirted around last time, so I agree, it should be covered more in depth. We shall see what the characters have to say about that, though. They are mostly busy dealing with the present, at the moment. **

* * *

**Chapter 6**

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Landing pad, **_**Bright Hope Ranger**_**, 39:4:3**

Luke walked over to the ship that Mara pointed out to him. Painted in neat letters under the ship's identifying number were the words, "BRIGHT HOPE RANGER" but small enough that they would not be easily identified from another ship.

"We're going in this?" he asked; the ship didn't look all that different from the _Millennium Falcon. _

"Well, Farmboy, we won't all fit in the _Firecracker_, so we're stuck with your hauler," her tone was acid, but then softened, "You've done quite a bit of hunting in this ship, including your sister."

"The _Firecracker_?" he asked, and she pointed to a row of ARC-170s waiting for their pilots on the other side of the landing pad. ARC-170s were good ships, though he preferred X-wings. He could even tell the ship that she must have been referring to; painted orange and red, sitting next to a teal one and a blue one; the three were set apart from the rest of the line. "Was I alone?"

"Well, unless you count R2-H9 as company."

"Why not R2-D2?"

She rolled her eyes, "And deprive your father of his best friend?"

"I'm used to him," he said. "And I don't remember R2-H9," he frowned and looked over at Mara. She wasn't looking at him, and he reached out to her through the Force. She was disappointed, predominantly. There were other emotions in her mind as well, but not in large enough quantities for him to identify readily. "I'm sorry," he said softly.

"It's not your fault you don't remember," she told him, a little angry, a little defiant. _Finally, _he thought, _I was wondering when she was going to start to be herself._

"That's not why I apologized. I'm sorry because I keep throwing this in your face," he said, and what he'd said had hurt her, but not in the same way. He brushed her hair back from her face as she looked up at him. He felt lost at what he was supposed to be doing with her, but she seemed to take comfort from his touch, and he didn't want to deny her the few comforts he could give her.

"It's just so easy to forget that you aren't yourself. That you aren't my Luke. You act so much the same, I don't know how to separate the two in my mind," she said, pressing her lips into his palm.

"This will work itself out."

"But will we still be together when it does?"

"Come on, you guys," Jasmine called from the inside of the ship, saving him from trying to answer a question he didn't have the answer for.

"Coming," he answered back, and started trudging toward the ramp. "We can talk later. Do we have R2-H9 with us this time?"

"Probably. He seems to like you. Most of the time we call him Hi-ny."

Luke shook his head and tried to keep from laughing as he got inside. He was mostly successful, but still earned a sideways glance from his Padawan.

"Everythingâo™s checked out," she said, and he felt the ship through the Force and knew the ship was running smoothly and wouldn't give them any problems as he glanced at the datapad she handed him. He dutifully scrolled through the checks, and found nothing amiss there either. The ship was in tip-top shape, and she was ready to roll. Mara slid her hand under his and took his bag from him and he sent thanks through the Force to her as he followed Jasmine up to the cockpit to do the preflight warm-up. "I called ahead to Coruscanti Control; no one from the Temple is scheduled to exit until after noon. I know Master Obi-Wan and Jae are supposed to leave today, but I guess they aren't going until later on."

"They'll be gone a while then," he commented idly.

"So she won't be here when we get back?"

He shrugged. "Depends on where they're going and how long they stay."

"They are going to New Ralltiir."

"Well, then, unless their mission turns out to be very short, no, she won't be here when we get back. New Ralltiir is even further from Coruscant than Ilum, even with hyperspace lanes." Jasmine shrugged philosophically and started for the co-pilot's chair. "No, you go there," he pointed at the pilot's chair, sitting as she hesitated.

"But, but I've never flown before," she looked at him with big blue eyes, and he knew that she was used to getting her way most of the time, and it appeared that her way meant not doing anything that would hurt other people, or involve her standing out. He wasn't having it though. It wasn't precisely that he was immune to her look, but he wasn't going to let her skimp on anything with her training. He had the feeling from some of what had been said that she did that far too often as it was. She was barely passing some of her classes, especially her Force-related classes, and as a Skywalker, she should have been able to breeze through those without lifting a finger, unless they were grading her by a higher standard. He would have to ask.

âdœYou've done work in the simulators?" he asked as he fastened himself in and familiarized himself with the controls. As he had suspected, it was not much different than the _Falcon._

"Well, yeah, but they aren't the same thing," she pleaded with him.

"What happens if I get hurt on a mission? You aren't going to have Mara around; you'll have to fly us out. It's time for you to get some practice time in."

A yellow domed R2 unit rolled up, beeping a cheerful hello. "Hi-ny!" Jasmine greeted the droid excitedly.

"Alright, looks like we're ready to head for Ilum," he said to both of them. The droid, independent, as most of the Temple droids tended to be, or at least, as Luke had seen Artoo be, took that to be his only indication of a destination and plugged into the hyper computer and began programming it.

Jasmine turned and started to go through the flight sequence. She was doing a bang up job, and he watched her carefully, knowing that he would have to fix any mistakes she made quickly and hoping that he wouldn't have to. There was little margin for error with a launch vector from Coruscant; he'd only been through this once before, with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, though he knew there would be countless incidences of this particular maneuver in memories he didn't have access to just now. "Engage maneuvering thrusters," the bored sounding traffic controller's voice sounded over the radio.

"Engaging maneuvering thrusters now," she confirmed, and he was a little surprised at just how confident she sounded as she confirmed each step in the process of take-off either with him or the controller. He watched her talk to Control again, telling them that they would be exiting in ten minutes, and his heart swelled with pride as she sounded every bit the Padawan that she was.

* * *

**Coruscant, Senate Rotunda, Chancellor's Office, 39:4:3**

Padmé walked into her office after the first hour of open session on the floor, and pulled her cloak off. Turning to hang it up, she looked over at Arrana, who seemed a bit flustered. She filed the thought away for consideration later. "What does my morning schedule look like, Arrana?"

She consulted her datapad studiously, perhaps a little much so, to Padmé's mind. "You have an appointment with one of Canthreta's aides, Madam Chancellor, I don't know which one. It would have been Cedric if you had been here yesterday, but he's leaving system today, so…"

"Well, good. I don't want to have to put together a real argument. Her getting Cedric in here usually means I have to think harder. I love him, but he's a tough customer in negotiations."

"Is that where he's being sent?" Arrana's curiosity piqued her interest a little. It wasn't really like her secretary to be so interested in the goings on of her household.

"I'm not sure. I haven't quite figured out where everyone is or is going. Liz left yesterday, and Cedric, Han, Luke, Mara, Jasmine and Jaedrea all leave today."

"Things are going to be quiet then?"

"Well, Anakin is still home," she said with a smile.

"He's something else, isn't he?"

She smiled, "Yes, he is. Celia should be home late tomorrow, and Julia is still home. Provided Leia doesn't go into labor, yes, things should be _relatively_ quiet," she shook her head.

"I sympathize, my lady. I have four brothers myself," Padmé shook off the temptation to delve further into conversation with Arrana; if Arrana was interested in Cedric in some way that was not professional, she would hear about it soon enough, and Cedric did have a very different way of dealing with the rest of the world than any of her other children. It wouldn't be like him to get involved with someone he didn't know well, at least, she didn't think he would. He'd shown very little interest in females in general, especially in the last year or so. It worried her, but she didn't know how to approach the subject with him. "Well, when they are your children, it's a bit different," she continued, and firmly going in the direction of business, she asked, "What else?"

"You have a meeting with Senators Organa and Mothma about reforming the Constitution?"

"That's today?" she asked, mostly herself, and went over to her desk, pulling out her notes on the subject. "Anything else this morning?"

"No, Ma'am. You _had_ a pretty light day scheduled both today and tomorrow, but with you having to stay home yesterday, you'll be quite busy both days now."

"Ah, that's just as well," she said, and they got down to business.

* * *

**Coruscant system, X-Wing **_**379-C17, **_**39:4:3**

Julia pulled up again, coming off a low run against a large trader. Her task today, along with the other 23 who were out today was to try not to scare the pants off the traders that were a steady stream to and from Coruscant, while still getting some practice in. Most systems allowed transit once you escaped the gravity wells, if you could plot your course. The problem with Coruscant was that you had to practically exit the system just to get a plot out that didn't involve hitting other ships. Most sub-light engines could make it out to the outer planet ring, where most Nav Computers were able to calculate the jumps, since the ships had thinned out enough to make those jumps, in less than a day.

Boss had cut four from the day before, and she knew it was that a couple of them had foolishly gotten into dogfights with her. And lost. She didn't know why the other two had been cut, but she didn't complain, as this had the fortunate happiness of evening the wings up, and they were running as two squads. Control had been fully informed of their comings and goings, and had even authorized them to make approaches on select ships, with prior approval.

"New ship to bead," Boss said, and the information was fed through his computer to all theirs. "Go in one at a time," he advised.

It was a YT-2000, something common throughout the galaxy, superseded only by other YT models that had been in production for longer. Like the 1300. She had no reason to think it was anything special. She was first to run low across it, and the ship felt familiar. "Boss, who's on that ship?"

"Didn't get details, Nugget Six. Why don't you hail them?"

"Aye, Rogue Leader," she said, and flipped to a commercial channel, turning her ship so she could read the ship's number, and settling it so it would stay in proximity to the other ship. "Freighter YT-2000-JT7192831, do you copy?" She thought she recognized the number, and 'JT' meant Jedi Temple. Number designations didn't include letters unless they were attached to some official body.

It took a moment for her to hear the crackle of their com picking up, but then she heard, "Come to say good-bye, Wings?"

"No," she laughed, "Just hanging out with the Rogues. I didn't see you yesterday at all."

"I was busy. Master Windu scared me to death pulling me out of class yesterday, and then everything happened in such a rush."

"I remember how it was for me. I forgive you, Little Bit. Say hi to your Master for me."

"I'm here," Luke's voice came over the com.

"Good; I was hoping you weren't letting her fly by herself."

"No, but I am making her fly."

"How'd you do getting out of the atmosphere?"

"I did ok, but I don't understand how you can possibly _enjoy_ this."

"Aw, come on, Little Bit, give it a few goes. Once your nerves settle, you'll like it a whole lot more."

"Hey, Buddy," Biggs came over the com next. "Hope the Little Bit isn't making you need to change your drawers."

"Is that you Biggs?" Luke asked, sounding a little shocked to Julia.

"Who else would be riding herd on this group of womp rats?" Biggs answered.

Julia felt more than heard the pause before she heard her brother's voice again. "You'll whip them into shape soon enough, buddy. When we get back we'll have to get together for dinner or something. It's been a while."

"Yeah. I'll tell Sera to set something up with Mara."

There was a somewhat longer pause this time, and she didn't understand why. It confused her, so she dismissed it as irrelevant. "Sounds like a plan, Biggs. See you when we get home from Ilum."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Solo Quarters, 39:4:3**

"So," Leia said as she settled onto the pillow that Master Secura had insisted was a meditation cushion. "How does one meditate?" she asked as she unconsciously straightened her spine out, her body long accustomed to the position.

"Well, most people close their eyes," Master Secura said with a smile. She seemed to be constantly full of smiles and good cheer. "And then stretch out with your feelings, finding the Force, and letting all the thoughts inside you come to rest, and all the emotions you are feeling go out into the Force. If you are having a particular problem, you can concentrate on it, letting the Force guide you to an answer, but let's just concentrate on the first part, shall we?"

"Yes, Master," Leia answered promptly, and she could feel peace around her, but she didn't exactly stretch out to it. It came to her. Her attention turned to her thoughts; a jumbled mess at best, especially with the last three weeks and learning that she was a Skywalker, the pain that she'd gone through with her brother and then her father; not knowing if what she thought of as her universe had trudged on without them, or if it had been obliterated the moment they had left. Settling for organizing them, she tried to sort her thoughts out, and to sort her thoughts from her emotions. That was harder, though not impossible, and she if she could properly detach the emotions from a thought or a memory, it would melt away, into the Force, she supposed. She was actually starting to get somewhere with that aspect when Master Secura spoke again.

"Well, Leia'wa, this doesn't seem to be helping with your connection to the Force."

She opened her eyes and sighed. "It's not?"

"You don't seem to be trying to connect to the Force at all, and that was the first thing you should have been doing."

"Oh," she said, sounding defeated. "I thought I had it."

"I think you will know when you have it," Master Secura said.

"Yes, Master," she agreed, though she didn't entirely believe it, and she moved to get up, finding her legs rather stiff, which surprised her.

Master Secura smiled and offered her a hand up. "Perhaps it is time for a light walk about the Temple to familiarize yourself with the grounds?"

"That sounds like a good idea," she said.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Crèche**_**, **_**39:4:3**

Master Yoda walked into the crèche with dignity and grace, at least that was what everyone else seemed to be thinking. He felt as though he was walking with fatigue and a heavy heart at not being able to go on any longer than he already had; he had given up more and more pieces of his life because he didn't feel that he was able to conduct them properly, now he only had two things left; watching over younglings, and watching over the Skywalkers.

The first was much easier than the second, though the second had its rewards. "Master Yoda," Master Sha Koon greeted him.

"Master Koon," he said in return.

"We have a family coming in today. Would you like to speak with them?"

"I would."

"Is there anything else that you need, Master?"

"No, look over the younglings I will until they arrive."

"Yes, Master," she said with a bow and left him.

He walked over to the room of younglings who were still smaller than he—the early toddler room. The late toddler room he was at even odds with the children there, at least in size. "Master Yoda," one of the younglings cried out to him.

"Young Kennis," he said, "A pleasure to see you again it is."

"Gwampa is going 'way."

"Know this I do," he said, "Return soon he will."

Satisfied with the answer, Kennis returned to an abandoned pile of blocks. Younglings at this level normally couldn't manipulate the blocks with the Force, but Kennis Burtola was, like most in the Skywalker-Kenobi clan, quite ahead of his age mates, and he enjoyed showing off. It wasn't encouraged, but it was hard to discourage such a notion without it repressing the child.

"Masta Yoda?"

"Larra."

"Will you pway wif us?"

"Hmmmm. Play I do not."

She looked crestfallen, "Why not?"

"Not proper, it is. Stoic and quiet must a Jedi be."

"But Masta Yoda," she said tugging on his tunic, "You pwayed wif us las' time."

"Hmmm. Going my memory must be. Remember this I do not," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"We help you 'member," she said, tugging more urgently, and he let her drag him along to whatever game they were playing at the moment.

* * *

**In transit to Ilum, **_**Bright Hope Ranger, **_**39:4:3**

Jasmine was glad that it hadn't taken Luke and Mara very long to get down to the launch pad after she'd left their apartment. She was still quivering inside with anticipation at the prospect of what she would be able to do as a Padawan. Luke was acting very strangely, but she tried not to question it. He was still Luke in all the ways that mattered no matter what changes had been wrought while he'd been away the last three months.

The strain she had felt between them the night before hadn't diminished, but it had dulled, fading into the background like a toothache. She could still feel it, sharp and unnatural, waiting to bloom into full force at any moment.

She had done the checks on the ship, and she was careful, because she didn't want him to catch something she should have, but he didn't check behind her. When it had come time to fly the ship, _his_ ship, he had slipped into the copilot's seat, and made her take the ship up. It had been nerve wracking, but exhilarating. Once the hyperspace coordinates had been put in, and they'd gone into hyperspace, there was little to do, but she lingered in the cockpit, taking in the sight. She hadn't really understood why Julia and Jaedrea wanted to crowd into the cockpit the first moment that they could, but there was a peaceful serenity to it, and perhaps that was it. It was probably more likely that they were just so fly-mad that they wanted to spend any time they could in there whether they could do anything or not.

She breathed a sigh of relief as they left Coruscant behind, as she always did. The constant buzz in the back of her mind was something she always had to contend with, and its sudden absence made the sense of wrongness with Luke more acute, and less ignorable. She didn't know what she was supposed to do about it, and it didn't seem like Mara knew what to do about it either.

"Hey," Luke said from behind her. She turned to look at him, and he looked the same, at least physically. What the Force told her was another matter entirely. She smiled wanly at him, and then bit her lip, not sure how to approach the subject. "Did you want to talk about something?"

She nodded and he sat down. Deciding that the most pressing matter, even more than the strangeness that was going on with him was what was going on with her father. "What's wrong with Daddy?"

He smiled, and that weird emotional mix she'd felt from him the night before came through him once again. She hadn't had time to dissect it, and she didn't have time right then. "What makes you think there's something wrong with him?"

"He's acting funny," she said, "And it's not the way he usually acts funny," she paused, but he motioned for her to continue. "I don't know how to explain it better," she grimaced, "I've never told anyone this before. But I kind of know about stuff before it happens, sometimes."

"What do you mean?" he asked, patiently, like a good master would.

She smiled at the thought. "Well, mostly it's people I'm close to, like Jae, I can just tell when she's about to do something that will get her in trouble," she rolled her eyes, "I have quit trying to talk her out of it, but sometimes I try for damage control, if she's going too far. She doesn't mean to, I know it, but she just doesn't see how many lines she crosses."

"I see," Luke said, "What else?"

"Well, lots of little things, mostly. Things other people don't pick up on. But it was like everything shattered yesterday morning. I want to know what's going on."

He thought for a while before he answered her, "Well, that's kind of complicated."

"But you understand, don't you, Luke?"

"Yes, I understand, but understanding and being able to explain it to someone else are two different things, as you well know," he said, sitting back and sighing.

"Try?" she pleaded.

He reached over and ruffled her hair. "Yes, Little Bit, I will try to explain to you why this is all happening," he told her and she waited while he picked a place to start. "I suppose, the way you would see it, everything started 36 years ago, two weeks before Father became Obi-Wan's Padawan."

She tingled all over with the realization that this was going to be a story she hadn't heard before. Perhaps she'd heard aspects of it, like how her father had lost his arm in his first act as a Jedi, or how the Jedi Order had been changed by the arrival of two strangers, strangers she knew her father and Obi-Wan had known far more about than they had been letting on. She'd always wondered what the reason that the Council had said that they weren't to be spoken of. She had been given that bit of information when she'd pressed her father for details about his stories from that time.

The fact that Luke knew this story made her wonder just what had happened when she'd left for school the morning before. "Master Yoda received two visitors. He wasn't particularly happy about it, either; they appeared in his meditation chamber out of nowhere."

"Teleportation? I thought that was impossible!"

"It wasn't teleportation, at least not in the sense that you mean. We'll get to what it was in a minute," he said, and she nodded. She felt Mara's presence heading toward them well before she saw her, though Luke didn't seem to be inclined to make note of her. "One of them was on the brink of death, and it took many days in the Healer's for him to recover, despite all they could do for him. He was very lucky not to die in spite of being in such a premier facility."

When Mara put her hand on Luke's shoulder, he looked over and smiled at her. It was reassuring, but it still felt strained. "I've never known anyone to have to stay under the care of the Healers for more than a couple of days," Jasmine said.

"Well, that tells you how badly he was injured." Jasmine nodded and he considered for a long moment before he continued. "What I'm about to tell you cannot be told to anyone outside the family. Even most of the family doesn't know. Mother and Father know, and Leia and I, and now Han and Mara. The only reason I'm telling you is you are too curious and too smart to be kept in the dark, and you might as well know the whole story, so that you aren't operating on half-truths and false assumptions. But you are not to go around telling anyone."

"Jae," she started.

"Anyone." Jasmine swallowed. What Luke was telling her was big—bigger than she'd originally thought. She nodded that she was ready for him to continue, and he laid out the story of how he, Leia and their father had come to the past and changed history. There were moments when he hesitated, but she understood that it was not that he was leaving things out—perhaps some things, but only in the way that everyone left things out for thirteen-year-old ears—just choosing his words carefully.

She didn't interrupt him. He was thorough, which was just as well, because her mind was reeling from the impact this was going to make in the future. The part of her mind that always thought in paths and eddies and the flow of the future looked at this like a meteor crash. The idea that every decision made ripples in a pond had just been thrown out the window. Sometimes things just happened. It was going to be a long time—perhaps a year—before she could even begin to find ripples in the pond again. He looked at her, curious and concerned, and she focused back on the present. Master Yoda was usually right, and he'd told her time and again that the future would take care of itself. He would talk to her many afternoons when there was no one else around, though there were few people who knew how often she spoke with him. He would say that she was soothing to be around, and she really enjoyed his very different prospective on the way things were. "That's…a lot to be wrong with Daddy, Master Luke."

The words had felt strange rolling off her tongue, _Master Luke,_ but that was who he was; he wasn't the brother that she'd grown up with. "I think he'll be ok; he's not a bad person."

"But how can you do horrible things and be a Sith and not be a bad person?"

"I think he's struggling with that very question, Jasmine, and the fact that the universe doesn't remember all the bad things that he did doesn't help him answer that."

"Why would that help?"

"Well, he could do things to make up for the things that went wrong; help widows of the people he murdered, help the galaxy restore democracy. I'm not sure what he could or would do if we hadn't gone into the past."

"What he probably would have done is died," Mara pointed out philosophically.

"But then he couldn't fix things," Jasmine said.

"True, but Leia and I would have still been around and would have helped the galaxy right itself. Leia was a leader in the Alliance to Restore the Republic, and I was the only person who had any Jedi training that I know about."

"The Temple wasn't here?"

"The building itself still stood, but at the creation of the Empire, the Jedi were all killed as traitors."

"All of them?" she asked, horrified.

"So far as I know. If they didn't die then, they were hunted. Jedi were the enemy of the Empire."

"I don't understand," Jasmine said. "How could that happen?"

"Palpatine was a powerful man and a master manipulator, and he changed public perceptions over the course of decades. I'm sure that not many people believed that the Jedi had turned on the Republic at first, but more and more evidence surfaced, most of it probably manufactured, and the Empire was tyrannical. Very few beings would even teach their children the truth of the Jedi Order, how it was good and just before the beginning of the Empire. Even I didn't learn much about the Order at all until I began my training as a Knight."

"So the Sith won?"

"For a while," he said with a smile, "But Father and I were able to destroy the Emperor, and that would have been the beginning of the end for the Empire."

"But I wouldn't have been there, or Mom, or any of the rest of us?"

He shook his head sadly. "Just Leia and me, and the Alliance. But we would have done alright, I think."

"Daddy will be ok, right?"

He hadn't gone into detail as to what their father had done as a Sith, but she had a rough idea of what a Sith was capable of. After all, Darth Maul had been openly active for 36 years. "I think he'll be ok, once he settles down," Luke told her. He had focused on mostly his time in the past, and the last four years, saying that he'd been raised on Tatooine with Owen and Beru, knowing little of their father and nothing of their mother, believing both to be dead.

"Did you know Nana?" she asked, realizing that their grandmother was absent from the story.

"Nana?"

"You know, Daddy's Mom?"

"Oh," he sighed. "She died before I was born," he told her with a shrug.

"Oh," she said, defeated for a moment. "She's coming in for your birthday this year."

"Why?" he asked, sitting back.

"Well, Leia's having her twins, and it's Mom and Dad's anniversary, and your birthday all in one month, but you would probably care more about them being here for your birthday."

"She's right, you know. She's supposed to be here for a month or more. Your Dad keeps trying to talk her into staying on Coruscant full time."

Luke smiled and shook his head. "He of all people should know how fast and deep Tatooine gets in your blood."

"That's what Nana says," Jasmine told him with a grin.

He smiled, and it was the first time he'd really, really smiled that day. He relaxed a little more than he had been. And Jasmine caught an oddness in the way that the Force swirled around him. It was so fleeting that she didn't know what to make of it. She didn't dismiss it, no matter the fact that it wasn't definable; things had changed too much for her to do that.

* * *

**En route to Eriadu, **_**Millennium Falcon**_**, 39:4:3**

Han sat looking at the object in his hands. He kept several such things around; some of them were children's games or puzzles, some just odd things he'd picked up that were interesting to look at while he thought. He just liked to have something to do with his hands while his mind was occupied with a problem. He'd fought like a Rancor when they had assigned him to this mission so close to Leia's due date, but he'd lost. Even Master Yoda had been more-or-less on his side. He didn't really have any choice in the matter, unless he wanted to resign his commission, and he didn't want that.

It wasn't like there were a whole lot of pilots to choose from. The whole of the Republic's Navy was involved in war games for two weeks out of every year, and the cream of the crop was taken every year and subjected to further testing. Some of them were then attached to the Temple. It took a special kind of pilot to be a Temple Pilot, apparently. There had always been some, but Master Yoda had greatly expanded the program in the last thirty-five years of his tenure as Grand Master of the Order. He had made quite a number of other stirring changes in that time as well, from allowing marriage to opening not one but three new Temples, and there was a talk of a fourth soon.

The Jedi's standards weren't precisely based on what you could do in the pilot's chair, but how much they could trust you. Master Yoda had been a big believer in checking the academy regularly for people he wanted in the Temple. Han had been one of those. He usually chose one or two; the year Han had come to the Temple, ten others had come with him.

Another thing that had bothered him at the time was that there were two classes of pilots; the ones that Master Yoda chose, and the ones that were there on their own merit. Each of the two groups seemed to keep to themselves more than they mingled, and the Jedi also seemed to trust the pilots Yoda had chosen far more than those that the Navy assigned as a privileged duty for ace pilots.

He knew there had to have been a reason he was chosen, and that Leia had been around him in the other lifetime was a pretty good one. According to one Jedi he'd cajoled into talking more openly, he was pure of heart, knowing his loyalties and not wavering from them, and that made him a good candidate for a Temple Pilot.

So he took the ribbing from the young hotshots, knowing that they wouldn't ever have the confidence of any of the Jedi. He understood what one of the older pilots had told him when he'd first signed on. _Hotshots come and go, Solo, but if you're plucked up and kept, that's a whole different way of being. Sometimes the hotshots have the brains to know the difference, but only a handful of those ever have the heart to come over to our side. Don't worry about them, if they aren't gone in two years, they might amount to something, otherwise they aren't worth the air it would cost to space them. _

Han had thought the attitude harsh then, but he understood where it came from now. He still thought it was harsh, but he'd been on the seedy side of life, where he was everyone's punching bag, and turning that around and making something of himself made him feel like it had all been worth it. Being a part of the Temple Community had helped in that. They hadn't expected him to become a Jedi; they wanted him to experience a normal life. But his job, his duty, was to ferry Jedi around, at least that was what the public saw, the reality…was a little different.

He was part of the family. Master Yoda had seen to that by selecting him, and there was a loyalty that ran bone deep both from the Jedi, and from those like him, whose duties, oddly enough, included protecting those Jedi, more often than they would readily admit. His job was to fly, and fly well enough to get them out of harm's way, out of whatever gundark's nest they'd gotten into. And he loved it, and he loved being a part of the Temple Family, and now, part of the Skywalker family. He just wasn't quite sure who was in that family anymore.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Tano Quarters, 39:4:3**

Ahsoka blinked. She had wondered who Vader was, and she had wondered why she was seeing all of these now-not-so-nonsensical visions. She had wondered where Master Skywalker had been in all of it; now she knew. Whenever he had been in her dreams, he'd been a single figure, never interacting with the others, but now, knowing Vader and he were the same person, placed him firmly in the center of almost every vision. "Oh, Master," she said in the way she used to when, if he'd been caught by Master Obi-Wan, he would have gotten a lecture, She'd found him doing something very…Skywalker. Reckless didn't begin to cover what he did to get himself into binds. She'd domesticated him somewhat, but Ash still told her some hair-raising stories. Well, they would be if either of them _had_ hair. Human idioms amused her most of the time, this one especially, because it didn't refer to the hair on their heads at all, but the fine hairs that covered the rest of their bodies.

He smiled, but there was no real warmth to it. "I don't know if I can do this."

"Yes, you do," she contradicted him. "You just don't want to because it's going to be like dragging a herd of Bantha through the Tatooine Desert at high noon."

That got her something closer to a real smile. "And what would you know about that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Only you could be so dense. I'm your Padawan. My family…didn't live through Master Koon finding me."

"I remember."

She shrugged. "I guess some things don't change. So when you went home during leave, I went with you. I spent a month or more every year on Tatooine for twelve years, and I still go for some of the time that you are there. I go with Nadina to her home, but I just don't feel as much at home there as I do with Nana Lars and everybody."

There was an emotional war inside him as she made another reference to his mother. "I think I need to go home," he said, and she nodded.

"I would say that you are right except for one thing."

"What?"

"She's going to be here for a month or so for Luke and Leia's birthday, and seeing her first great-grandchildren born, and your anniversary is coming up soon, and it's going to look weird if you go home now with all that going on."

"She's coming here?"

"Where else would she go to do all those things?" she asked, her tone teasing and slightly acidic. Master Skywalker really was being slow today.

"Why do you have to make sense?"

She shrugged. "I understand that you are feeling trapped. I do. Maybe better than you do, but I know you. You don't run away when things get hard. You never have, you've just plowed on through everything. I know that you've done some bad things; I've seen them. That doesn't mean that you can't do good things, or that you've forgotten how. You were the one that taught me the Code, and I know you still believe in it. _Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force,_" she quoted the Jedi Code to him, and while he'd heard that version before, it wasn't the main one of the Temple.

"That isn't the version I was taught."

"I know. I didn't know if you'd ever even heard it before. There's been a lot of argument about it."

"I have, but not from any official source. I had to go looking to find it."

"So, somehow you've embodied that version of the code to such an extent that there are very few who will try to deny the validity of such a thing. I think it was something you said, that denying one's emotions is a fool's errand, that mostly shuts them up, but they still try sometimes."

He closed his eyes, and leaned back into the chair. She could sense flashes of emotion from him, and, in general, he was heading in a good direction, so she let him think.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Kenobi Quarters, 39:4:3**

Jaedrea had hoped to get going on their mission directly after breakfast, but Obi-Wan had promised Rain that he would have dinner with her. Fortunately, he hadn't meant evening, as her mother would have. She loved Kennis and Olisa, but that didn't mean she really wanted to spend time with them that she could have been heading out toward her mission. She understood, in principle at least, that it wouldn't matter if they left earlier; they would arrive in the middle of the New Ralltiir capital's night cycle if they left now.

"Gwampa," Kennis stormed her master's quarters, and they accepted him like a beleaguered castle. Mr. Horns was in tow, as always, except the last couple of miserable days. Obi-Wan swung the boy up, using the Force to subtly lighten the work on his old bones.

She didn't blame him, and if she thought she could get away with it, she would have done the same thing. Kennis was big for his age and he weighed nearly 15 kilos. He expended far too much energy for any of it to be fat; he was a bundle of energy. He just happened to be a big bundle. Fortunately for the rest of the Temple, there were plenty of Jedi willing to work crèche duty for an hour, a day, or, like Liz, a lifetime. Kennis had yet to run out of people willing to keep him contained and occupied.

Or Padawans in need of "time to think while occupying their hands." She'd spent quite a bit of time down there doing that herself, and, according to Obi-Wan's stories, so had her father. What was worse was that by the time he was her age he was actually enjoying it.

Perhaps that was why she had so many siblings. Their mother had loved them, but their father had always been the one in charge of mundane things like diaper changing, middle-of-the-night feedings, patching scraped knees, and kissing bruised elbows. Which was, when she thought about it, very odd. He was the one who was gone for sometimes months at a time, and was gone more than he was home, but he was still the person that all of them had cried for when they were hurt.

She had seen other families, and it was usually the father who was more distant, and the mother who kissed the hurts, but she just couldn't see her father being able to be so distant. Even Master Kenobi, while he loved his three now-grown children, wasn't hands-on the way her father was.

She still couldn't imagine her family any other way. Her mother was too passionate about the Republic to have quit the Senate, even when she was just a Senator, when they were younger. She really didn't remember much from before her mother had become Chancellor. She remembered her early Initiate training, but much of what happened at home during that time had blurred into a long string of events that were in a lot of ways disconnected from everything else, and politics wasn't exactly her favorite subject even now, so most of what her parents, or her mother and Cedric discussed went well over her head.

"Thinking about something, Padawan?" Obi-Wan's quiet question pulled her out of her reverie.

She shook her head, "Just thinking about how Daddy was always the one that I cried for when I got hurt, and how Mom was always there, but not, you know?"

"I know. I think it's some quality of your father's that he immerses himself into something so completely that it's impossible to separate him from it, once he sets his mind to it. That is how he approaches life, not just fatherhood. I see that quality in you, for good or ill."

She nodded. He'd said as much before, so this was not new territory, "Should I go get lunch?"

"Yes, that sounds like an excellent idea. Olisa, why don't you set the table?"

"Yes, Grandpa."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Grand Entrance, 39:4:3**

It was Aayla's opinion that Leia was going to have a difficult time with her new status. She considered how to work through this with her as she began pointing out various features of the Temple to her Padawan. "In this part of the Temple, on every level there are staircases," she said, indicating the grand staircase to the ground floor, which they descended. "Not like this, of course, but the stairs are in this central area."

"What about the spires?" Leia asked, indicating the window behind them.

"Each of those has their own stairs and turbolifts. We will take the turbolift back up, I don't want you straining yourself."

"I'm pregnant, not helpless," she sounded exasperated.

"And I haven't been here to berate you at all about it. Not that it would have done any good at all."

"Why didn't you come home, at least when I got home?"

"Master Windu thought there was no need. I was the senior Jedi on the ground on Askaj; he was sending Quin along as soon as he could, but he hadn't gotten freed up from whatever it was he had been doing until the afternoon before I left," she said as they reached the bottom of the stairs. She angled her way around behind, where the stairs led down again.

"Where to now?"

"The Room of a Thousand Fountains. It's peaceful there, and it might be somewhere we can try meditating later."

Leia followed her down the stairs wordlessly then as the stairs opened into the airy lightness of the gardens, she gasped, and stared for a long moment before speaking again. "It's so beautiful! I heard the stories growing up, but…they don't compare to the reality."

"You never made it down here when you were here before?" Aayla asked as they began strolling down the worn pathway.

"No, I was with my mother, and it was a rather busy time."

"From what Master Yoda has told me, I think that is a bit of an understatement."

Leia closed her eyes, and seemed to feel…something flood her inner being. It felt right, natural. Yet at the same time it was completely alien. She also felt something inside her reaching for the feeling, like it needed it. Just before the sensations touched, her master's voice broke her out of her…trance? "Do be careful, Leia'wa, there are a few poisonous plants here." Leia pulled her hand back from one of the plants she was reaching out to touch.

"Why?" she asked, trying not to let annoyance into her voice. She was mostly successful.

"They are not poisonous to the ones for whom they are planted. There are a thousand fountains, each with its own garden, and some of those gardens are designed for non-humans. If it is possible, sacrifices are made to safety—we do have many younglings—but sometimes, what is poison to one is the sweetest perfume to the other. Some of the beings here can only tolerate the special gardens designed for their species."

She nodded. "Are there any warning signs? Surely you have visitors down here."

"No, visitors are not allowed. In fact, they are only allowed in the grand entrance, where we just were, and the several receiving chambers off of it."

"Oh," Leia said, and Aayla let the conversation die for a little while.

She felt rather than saw the approach of two beings, and said, "Someone's coming this way."

Leia turned unerringly toward the approaching pair. "Really?"

Aayla shook her head; the contradictions that seemed to be ever-present were getting to her. "Really. They will be here shortly."

It was not long before Aayla saw the Togruta's montrals. She knew that one of the people coming was a Skywalker, probably Anakin, but she couldn't think who would be there with him. "Aayla," Ahsoka greeted her as she came into view.

"I didn't know you were home," Aayla smiled in greeting.

"Just got in this morning. I suppose I can assume you got pulled in from the hinterlands as well?"

"How did you know?"

"I just got pulled in by Master Yoda himself. I figured he decided that this needed special handling."

"Ah, I see," Aayla said, and she was going to say something to Leia, but as she looked over at her Padawan and her father, she forgot what it was, because of the way they were acting toward one another.

They were each eyeing other as though the other were a dangerous predator. While Aayla and Ahsoka had greeted one another they had said nothing. "Good afternoon, Leia." His tone was distant, cool, yet filled with sorrow. Neither one of them had heard it before, but for Ahsoka, it was heartbreaking and Aayla's heart went out to the other Jedi.

"Anakin," she said, and to both Ahsoka and Aayla, his name coming out of Leia's mouth was grating. It was more than the fact that she didn't call him Daddy; there was a coolness there, as if they were…enemies. Enemies forced by circumstance to be civil to one another as opposed to trying to kill each other. Aayla glanced at Ahsoka, who was outright staring at both of them. "Luke was telling me last night that you are on the Council?"

"Yes," he said, waving the thought away. "I really wish I wasn't."

She smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "Mother told me that fully half my siblings will be off planet for the next few weeks, at least."

He nodded. "Jaedrea and Cedric are going with their Masters on negotiation missions; Luke is taking Jasmine to Ilum, and Elizabeth is…" he stopped as his memory ran itself out.

"She's gone to Camaas to talk to the parents of a prospective," Ahsoka said quietly. "She's been excited for a month. First solo mission," she said in response to Leia's questioning glance, "She even commed me while I was still on Garos IV."

Leia nodded. "I imagine it's going to be fairly quiet for you then."

"I still have you, and Julia and Celia," he reminded her, "And if it gets too quiet, I might go take Kennis off Rain's hands for a while. He seems to be of the opinion that I exist solely for his own amusement."

Leia looked at him as though he was losing his mind. "Rain?"

"Yes, Obi-Wan's daughter," he said, "She seems very nice. A lot like her mother."

"General Kenobi has a daughter?"

Anakin turned suddenly serious. "Why does that surprise you?"

"Just stories my father told me of him, during our history lessons," Leia said.

"Keep in mind, MY daughter, that those lessons do not apply to this timeline. A timeline you helped create."

Ahsoka, who was getting tired of this little cold war happening in front of her, spoke up then. "Are you coming to dinner, Leia? With Han gone, it would only be natural for you to come eat with the family."

Aayla could almost feel the pain through her bond. It was the first time she'd felt anything since the bond had been silenced. She grinned. Perhaps this would be the way to get her Padawan to open herself back up. She didn't want to cause Leia pain, but this frigid cordiality would catch someone's attention sooner rather than later, and both of them needed to break through this. "Yes, I think that would be a good idea, don't you, Padawan?" she said with a tug on Leia's braid.

Leia's thus far impeccable poise wavered for a second. She wasn't comfortable with the idea, but she probably couldn't figure a way out without it seeming like what it was—an excuse not to be around her family. "That would be fine, Master, if you would like to join," Leia said, and the obeisant way she said it made Aayla frown.

They were going to have to have a long talk about what Aayla expected of her Padawan, and what she didn't, and she didn't expect Leia to agree to something just because she didn't think she could argue with her. There were going to be times that she needed Leia to obey her without question, but this was not one of them.

A glance at Ahsoka confirmed that she was just as bothered by Leia's response as Aayla. Perhaps they needed to get together and discuss this apart from Anakin and Leia.

* * *

**In transit to Shiava, **_**Valenthyne Farfalla**_**, 39:4:3**

Cedric unstrapped himself from the pilot's chair; Master Ti had let, well, insisted that he fly. He didn't think he was as bad as Luke or his father would be were they not permitted in the pilot's seat. He did have to admit to a certain amount of nervousness when someone else was flying, like an itch he couldn't scratch, he just wanted to take over. Not because he felt that another was incompetent, but because his reaction speed was just faster, no that wasn't it…it was because he was a Skywalker. Master Ti had made that point once, and he had rejected the theory out of hand, but he'd realized, as with so much, that his master was right. He could sit perfectly still, and even, for the most part, keep his annoyance from leaking out into the Force, but his Master knew him too well, and so she had given up the pilot's chair, keeping him distracted while she concentrated on the mission ahead of them, since he wouldn't if he were not piloting.

"So, what are the particulars of this mission?" he asked, turning away from the cloudy gray of hyperspace and facing his Master.

"We are going to Shiava, well, you knew that, but the capital city, to work out the final stages of a trade negotiation."

He wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Again?" it wasn't that he minded particularly negotiating; he was actually quite skilled in doing so, but he also liked variety in his missions.

"Yes, again. In fact, that's what Obi-Wan and Jaedrea are doing, and Master Mundi."

"Oh," he said, the gears in his mind already turning on why there would be so many trade negotiations in such a short span of time.

"I know that look, Padawan," she said, and he directed his attention to her, "What's going on in that overly-active head of yours?"

"I was wondering why so many trade negotiations right now, Master," he said, sharing because it was easier than trying to hide it from her; besides, she might have an idea.

"I don't know, Cedric, but that might be something that you could figure out. Why don't you configure a query for the Temple Database that you can send on a hyper-pulse back when we make our first vector change?"

His eyes opened wide, "But to do that I would need access to at least the descriptions of all the mission files in the last year, at the very least."

"Hmmm," Shaak Ti looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't think that is a problem, considering the statistical nature of the question. I think you should go back further than one year, though."

"I'll set something up for you to take a look at. I don't think it should take more than an hour."

"Fine," she said. "I will review what you have done in an hour, and if it is suitable, I will transmit it to the database on my authorization."

* * *

**In transit to Ilum, **_**Bright Hope Ranger, **_**39:4:3**

Mara was pacing, flitting about the cabin she would have shared with Luke, had he been in a mood to share. He wasn't acting any differently than she would have expected if Luke was completely normal, and that made her really not want to trust her instincts, because they were telling her two conflicting things. On one hand, Luke was being Luke, teaching Jasmine what she needed to know, and being ever so helpful. He was always cheerfully helpful, and that hadn't changed in the least. His Force presence, however, had changed significantly. It wasn't that he was any more powerful, but he was more aware of the Force and it was, in turn, more present around him.

She sighed, knowing that she was being spiteful inside her own head, but this whole situation was setting her on edge, and when that happened, it usually necessitated a fight-or-flight response. Which she now had to fight, because fighting Luke wasn't an option, and running from the situation would only make things worse. But it built up tension inside her that she didn't know what to do with. She was tense enough that she didn't know if she would be able to meditate at all, much less on this.

She didn't hear the cabin door open, so Luke's sudden appearance made her squeak with surprise. He smiled, saying, "I didn't mean to scare you."

She recovered sufficiently from her shock, and told him, "You just surprised me is all. I didn't hear you come in."

"Oh," he said, rubbing the hair on the back of his neck. "I wanted to talk to you."

She swallowed the fears that rose with his statement, "About what?" she forced herself to ask lightly.

"Well, about us."

"What about us?" she asked, sitting on the bed.

He sat on one of the meditation cushions near the foot of the bed. "I know that you want there to be an us, and I'm not sure how I feel about this whole mess yet. I want this to work out, and I feel like this should work out, but I want to take this slowly, and do it right. I need to know that you can be patient with me," he said, and it was so sincere and earnest that her heart went out to him once again. And that he had deduced his first big obstacle with her made her wonder if this was really going to take all that long. He saw her calculating look, and gave her a stony look that said she wasn't going to get around this until he was good and ready to let her in.

"Patience isn't something I'm big on, I admit," she told him finally. "But you aren't overly cautious either."

"Tell me about what you enjoy most about being with me," he said instead of directing his attention to her last comment.

She sighed, considering his request. She honestly hadn't put much thought into why they were together, only that they were supposed to be together. "I feel complete when I'm with you, and I'm happy. I know that most people think that being a Jedi brings its own sort of happiness, but for me it doesn't. It's just the job that I was born to do. I would miss it if I wasn't doing it, but it's not the reason I get up in the morning, it's not the reason I continue to do what I do. You are that for me."

"I would think that is true for most Jedi. I know it's true for my father."

"You think?"

"Of course, no individual is just one thing, Mara. Being a Jedi is important to me, but so is being a husband and a father. I don't know if I'll get my memory back ever, but you are the mother of my child. That means you have to be really special because I doubt I would've chosen you if you weren't. The last few days have convinced me that I wasn't much different before, and I found this," he produced a datapad from his pocket.

"The Journal your mother gave you when you became a Padawan?"

"Yes...the only day I haven't written in it is yesterday. There's a lot in here about you, but I got to know the me that you knew, at least in small part."

"And?"

"And he reminds me of what I was like on the farm, brash, eager. Yet to truly be tested in a way that REALLY matters; young."

"Young?"

"Yes, very young. You don't know how...different this timeline is. I've been at war since I was nineteen, Mara. That scars the soul. Your Luke hasn't had to be a soilder. He was a peace keeper, fully able to fight, but its not like war. A real war."

"You sound like you find him lacking."

"No...he is me in every way, the only difference is I had to mature ten years in six months where he could take his time. I also think that I have a better understanding of the Force than he does, again, not a judgment, just an observation. Indeed I get the feeling that most Knights our age are a bit behind both of us in understanding of the Force. "

"Ok...that is interesting. And us?"

"Give me time...it will happen, I'm sure of it."

"I want to believe you, it's just hard." He nodded, and she looked up at him, wanting so much just for him to be her husband and knowing that that was the one thing she couldn't have, not until he decided he was ready. "I don't know how to fight this, Luke, and it's tearing me up inside. I just need to know what I can do to help."

He got up and sat down on the bed, and drawing her over beside him, "I think I know where you can start. I need you to help me understand this universe, and the Order, and my place in it. Where I come from, there is no Order; as far as I know, I am the only Jedi anywhere. I am sure I would have been able to find others, but it was going to take time. I don't know how to be around other Jedi."

She was quite relieved; he wasn't asking impossible things of her, and she trusted him not to start. She felt a tiny quiver in the Force, and she froze, holding her breath.

"What's going on?" Luke asked, concerned, and it was so…Luke, that she didn't know what to say to him for a moment.

"I'm not sure," she said, swallowing hard, "I felt something in the Force."

He bit his lip and she could feel him stretching out with the Force, it swirled around her like a swollen stream. "I don't sense anything amiss."

She felt it again, and she could tell that he had as well. "That, only it was a little stronger this time."

He smiled one of his smiles of radiant wonder. "That," he said, "Came from here," and he put his hand on her stomach.

She let out a surprised little 'o,' and put her small hands over his bigger one. The sensation came again, and she wasn't sure what to do about it. "Hmmm," she started, but she hadn't heard of anyone having something like this happen.

"Well, Jasmine did say we were upsetting the baby last night."

"She did. I just kind of dismissed it as her being tired or something."

"I wondered, but I don't know Jasmine well enough to judge if she's saying something out of exasperation or because she has evidence to back it up."

"Well," she paused as the…pulse? came again. "I don't understand this."

"Hmmm. If she were bigger I would guess that she had the hiccups."

"She?" Mara asked again as he sent small tendrils of the Force flowing through her toward the baby.

"Can't you tell? She's very definitely female, at least from what I can feel of her. Of course, you could just wait and find out when she's born."

"I hadn't thought about it," she said. "Do you know what Leia's having?"

He thought for a moment, "One of each," he said.

"You didn't even know she was having twins until you thought about the gender, did you?"

"No, actually," he said, surprised because she could read him so well.

"So what are you going to do about this one's Force-hiccups?"

"I put her to sleep," he said. "She's still upset about last night, I think, and her only sensitivity seems to be emotional thus far."

She pressed the back of his hand against her cheek, and let him go. Their daughter was sleeping. It filled her with both wonder and sadness, because she could tell that, while Luke cared about the wellbeing of their child, it still made him uncomfortable that she existed. "I don't think it's a good time to talk anymore," she was still wrapped up in misery, and she didn't know how to deal with him being so close and so distant. He nodded sadly.

"I'll go. You should get some rest."

She read the tension in his body, and she knew that he wanted to stay, to comfort her. He was Luke, and she loved him so much for that, but he wasn't hers anymore, which made her not know how to separate it in her mind.

He couldn't stand to see someone hurt. He never could, and that was just the way of things. It hurt him because he was hurting her, and she didn't know what to do to stop the cycle. Everything was not fine in the land of Skywalker, and he wasn't about to pretend that it was. And it hurt. It hurt that he looked at her and saw a stranger, but she was just going to have to get over that, somehow if she expected things to get better.

She closed her eyes against the pain, and her voice was rough when she said, "You should go check on Jasmine. I'll rest. It's a good idea."

She could see him, even with her eyes squeezed tight shut, even with her back turned. He dropped the hand that he'd been reaching out to her, and he got that sad puppy look and dropped his head just a little. "Alright," he said. The emotions had leached out of his voice as though he was reining them in tightly.

She heard the door open, and then close again, and she turned to see if he had really gone, half wishing he'd stayed. But he hadn't. She turned the sheets back on the bunk; he'd told her to rest, but hadn't said she needed to leave. She slipped under the covers, wrapping them around herself. He hadn't washed them since the last time he'd slept in the ship, it hadn't been that long, and the sheets still smelled like him.

The thought made her sad and lost for a moment, but she moved past it. The suddenness of the change, perhaps, had caught her off guard, but she would get through this, just as she had many other things. She wondered briefly if their daughter would understand what had happened, but she hoped it would never come up. She drifted into sleep, feeling comforted and whole, as she hadn't felt since she'd found out about this situation.

* * *

**Caamas, Jedi Temple, Crèche, 39:4:3**

Elizabeth was tired after her day with the Stryders. There were quite a number of adults in their family, and she had spent most of the day with them, and it made her wonder if she had been spending too much time in the crèche.

"It's alright, you know."

She turned to look at Deirdre, the older human who was in charge of the crèche in Caamas's Temple. "What's alright?"

"What you're thinking about. You are wondering if you don't get enough adult time, yes?" Deirdre asked her, picking up one of the fussy youngsters and handing her over to Liz. She had kind blue eyes, and her hair was mostly white, and if Liz stood on her knees instead of her feet, she was just a little taller than Deirdre.

"Yes," she admitted with a sigh.

"I wondered the same thing when I was about your age. I was still a Padawan, and I was here, talking to a prospective, much as you are, and the parents were much as the ones you're talking to, I imagine, all talk and going nowhere with it."

"I think I would be fine if it were just the parents."

"Ah, you got one of those sort. Strange, how big the clans will get in just a generation or two."

"So what's the difference?"

"Oh, it's the difference between the country folk and the city folk. The parents I was talking to were from the city. You headed pretty far out today, didn't you?"

"Yes, it was an hour or so trip."

"Not close enough to get to the nearest city then," she said, and patted the back of the baby she was holding as she thought for a moment. "Small talk is hard to come by after you've been doing it for hours. Don't worry. Tomorrow is for serious talk. You don't have any trouble with that, now do you?"

She smiled, mostly at the youngling she was holding, "No, that I can do. I've been doing that as much as Master Koon, of late."

"She's a good woman, your master. Her uncle, too."

"Yes, I appreciate having both of them in my life."

"And you are missing her?"

"I," she sighed, "I haven't even been gone for a week yet."

"Time doesn't matter to the heart. But there's something else bothering you."

"How do you know so much?"

"Fifty years of watching younglings teaches one a little about how younglings work, and you, my dear, are still just enough of a youngling for me to work my magic on you."

Liz huffed and sat down in a rocking chair, hoping the rhythm would soothe the fussy youngling in her arms. "Well," she said after a stern look from Deirdre, "There is one thing."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:3**

Anakin felt like he was walking in a dream. Walking through the Temple was surreal, and becoming more so. After a long discussion with Ahsoka, and a walk through the halls, he didn't feel any better about being where he was. Obi-Wan was on his way to New Ralltiir, and he wished that the universe hadn't been so cruel as to give him the whirlwind of his family, his Master, everything, and then pull it all out from under him.

Perhaps he was overreacting; he still had Padmé here, and she was still a Senator. He had Ahsoka back, and she was trying to convince him to cook dinner. She told him that Julia and Celia would be home soon; they had encountered Leia and Aayla Secura in their walk, and the latter had invited herself to dinner with Cheshire-cat amusement.

Ahsoka looked at him, her arms crossed, and he could feel, predominantly, amusement and frustration coming from her through the Force.

"If you don't cook dinner, there won't be anything for us to eat," she said. "I don't know about you, but I'm not one for missing meals if I can avoid it. How did you manage dinner last night, anyway?"

"Um, I was with Obi-Wan?"

"Meaning that you left your poor defenseless children to fend for themselves. At least all of them have Masters to take pity on them now. Did the two of you at least feed Jae?"

He shrank a little, and admitted, "No, I only saw her at breakfast."

"Dear Force. It's a wonder that the Temple is still standing if you two left her without supervision all evening."

"She isn't really that bad, is she?"

"Well, there are some things that happened that can't be blamed on her. She wasn't born yet when the entire Council chamber was painted a shade of green that 'matched' Master Yoda."

He rubbed his hand across his face, and looked at her with disbelief. "You aren't kidding."

"No. I will very shamefully admit that I was the one who acquired the paint, but only after someone else had the idea."

"Of course," he said, then had a sudden thought. "I hope they didn't learn any of this from me."

"Other than feeling that they had to live up to your reputation?"

He squeezed his eyes shut. "What's the worst that could have happened?"

"Well, when the triplets were two they all got out of the crèche, and we were gone; it was not very long before I was knighted. Between the three of them, they somehow got out a window, and they were walking around on the outside of the Temple. We almost had several people crash when they realized that the…new ornaments on top of one of the spires were alive."

His eyes were wide. "And why didn't Obi-Wan inform me that we needed to take care of this?"

"Well, Padmé was home all day yesterday. Maybe she was home when Jae got home from school."

"That seems likely," he said. "If they were two when they did that…"

"Yes, and Jae is their mastermind. If there was every one of your children that required constant supervision, it would be her. So what are you fixing for dinner?"

He greeted the question with a glower, but he began rummaging through the kitchen for suitable ingredients. "I'm home," he heard a young female voice call.

"Hey, Wings, how was your training with Rogue Squadron today?" Ahsoka asked. He found Shurra fruit, and put it back. Alderaanian squash. Several leafy vegetables.

"Cool. I got to buzz some ships today. Boss cut four people from yesterday, so we went out in two full squads. We buzzed ships in the morning and did precision point exercises in the afternoon. I did better than over half the test subjects," Julia chattered on excitedly, and Anakin looked through a cabinet.

"Were you using the Force?" He found herbs and he closed the door, pulling another one open.

"No, I don't need to. If we were doing four-man runs like yesterday, I would if I needed it, but it's no fun if you win because you cheat," Julia was very wise, he thought, finding some interesting base staples in the cabinet he was currently looking through. "Daddy?" she asked, poking her head into the kitchen.

He looked at her. She had brown eyes, but her hair was straight, about the shade his had been when he had gotten home from the Clone Wars. His hair had grown darker than that since, but hers probably wouldn't. "Yes?"

"Hi."

"Hello."

"What's for dinner?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"Oh. Did you want some help?"

He almost said no. She looked so earnest, though, and so young and vulnerable. "Did you have an idea?"

"Yeah," she said, coming all the way into the kitchen, "Who's home?"

"Leia and Celia," he answered with authority.

"Celia won't be home 'til tomorrow, unless something has come up."

"No. Nothing's happened," he reassured her, "Aayla Secura is coming over as well."

Julia gasped excitedly, "She's home? We should make Terasaka. She loves that."

"Can I trust you to do that?"

She gulped. "I think so," she said, and Ahsoka grabbed a data disc from a store of them on the wall.

She handed the disc to Julia. "You need the recipe, though, don't you?"

Julia nodded and started chattering at a mile a minute, much to the amusement of both adults.


	8. First one down

**AN: Sorry it's been so long since I have updated anything. I don't suppose I really have any excuse. I am trying, I promise. Fresh stuff is out from Yoda, a fic in the Buffy-verse that's been bouncing around in head, and finally become a big enough plot bunny to demand our undivided attention. This has had the added benefit of getting us out of the Star Wars universe for a little while, and potentially we will be able to get stories out faster. **

Thanks to Jedi Angel001, **whateveritis12, **Dream's Abyss, **Charlie Hayden, **and TriGemini for reviewing.

* * *

**Chapter 7

* * *

**

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:3**

Julia got C-3P0 to help her adjust the table; it would be easier to manage if she pulled two of the leaves out. There were three, and there was a special storage for them under the table. With only Leia, Aayla, Ahsoka and her father there, they didn't need it spread for ten.

"Miss Julia, won't we have to pull the leaves back out again?"

"Sure, when Jaz and Luke and Mara get home, maybe."

"Do you know when that will be?"

"Nah. They're gone to Ilum, so a while, a week or two, at least."

"Oh, quite right," he agreed. "Trips to Ilum do tend to take a fair amount of time, though I've never been."

"That's alright, Threepio," she said as she slid out from under the table again. "I don't think you'd find Ilum at all interesting. It's really cold there, except the caves, unless it's high summer."

She moved around to the end of the table where Threepio had not stationed himself, and she pushed, sliding the table together and down to an appropriate size. "Would you like for me to set the table, Miss Julia?"

"That'd be great. I need to go check on the food."

She returned to the kitchen, allowing the droid to finish with the dining room set-up. "So what's next?"

"What does the recipe say?"

She consulted the datapad. "Um, sprinkle shredded cheese over the top and cook an additional 5 minutes."

"Well?"

She pulled on a hot mitt, and pulled the dish from the focus cooker, and got a container of shredded cheese from the conservator, and sprinkled it liberally over the dish, then put the dish back in the cooker. "So why are you and Leia fighting?"

She faced her father after putting the rest of the cheese away. He was eyeing her suspiciously. "Why do you think that?"

"Daddy," she sighed, "When it's so obvious, _I_ am the one asking about it?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "We are not fighting."

"I don't care what you want to call it," she said, waiving her arms about in an attempt to find the words she wanted, "It _feels_ like you are fighting."

"Things are more complicated than that, Julia."

"I don't care how complicated you want to make it, I don't want to spend another six months with chills going down my spine at odd moments because you are having a temper fit."

He raised an eyebrow at her. She tried staring him down but she ended up looking away first. He had way more practice in staring contests than she did. "It will work out, I promise," he said softly. "Come on, your five minutes are up."

She pulled the dish from the oven again. "Is it done?" she asked, and he examined it.

"Looks done to me."

"Perhaps you could make a salad," Ahsoka offered as she came into the kitchen again.

"Sounds like a good idea," her father added.

She wrinkled her nose at the thought, but dutifully got out fresh vegetables to chop. "I think you should tell Leia you're sorry," she told her father as Ahsoka left again.

"Why?"

"Because, she's mad at you."

"How is that logical?"

"Because she doesn't get mad at you unless you do something very, very bad."

"All right," he agreed. "Do you have any other advice for me?"

She looked at him, but he didn't look like he was trying to make fun of her. She frowned at him anyway. "You should try not to make her mad again."

He nodded, and she went back to chopping vegetables, and about that time, Ahsoka appeared again. "How's that salad coming, Wings?"

"It's fine," Julia replied, putting the chopped leaves into a bowl.

"I see. I'll leave you to that then," she said, lounging against the door frame comfortably.

* * *

**In Orbit above Garos IV, **_**Lightbringer,**_** 39:4:3**

Siri Kenobi looked over the documents that summed up what had been negotiated by Nadina and Ahsoka. It was satisfactory to all sides, finally, and signed, sealed and ready to be delivered. And they wanted it delivered immediately. To Coruscant.

And she knew she would be persona non grata on Coruscant right now. Which put her in a bit of a dilemma. "Master Kenobi?"

"Yes, Nadina?" she turned to face the girl.

"Will we be departing soon?"

She sighed mentally. "I will contact the Temple for instructions. I do not yet know. Beyond coming and getting you, I was told nothing."

"Master Ahsoka was not told much either. She said that she had been recalled by Master Yoda."

"And no one disobeys him no matter how inconvenient it makes things."

Nadina bowed to her. "No, Master. I will leave you to get your instructions."

Siri sighed. She knew that Nadina was less suspicious than Ash was, but both of them knew that something very strange was going on. She flipped the com on, recorded her message to Mace, who would know what was going on, she hoped, and sat back, but she didn't have to wait long to receive a reply. Master Yoda was there with Mace. "Circumstances do not allow you to remain out any longer. Anakin and Ash will just have to deal with one another," Mace said.

"A long way, he has come, though a long way he still has to go," Master Yoda said, and then the recording ended.

"Thanks a lot," she said to the blank screen. "Alright, you two, we're headed home."

"Did Master Windu say anything enlightening?"

"Absolutely nothing," she told Ash, "But sometimes we just have to deal with the Sabacc cards that we are dealt."

"And what does that mean?" Ash muttered to himself as she walked away. She smiled but pretended she hadn't heard.

* * *

**En route to Ilum, _Bright Hope Ranger,_ 39:4:3**

"Luke?" Jasmine asked.

"Yes?" he asked as he entered the cabin that she was using this trip.

"Is you not remembering because you were in the past why you and Mara are fighting?"

"I don't really think we're fighting, but yes, this is difficult for her."

"Why didn't anybody talk about it before? You were in the past, so somebody had to know."

"Many people knew, or have probably figured it out. At least at the Temple, Mother knew, I know that for sure.."

"Why do you call her that?"

"Oh, I don't know. I suppose the same reason that I call Father Father."

"It sounds weird. You should call them Mom and Dad. It will make you stand out less."

He laughed, and mussed her hair, "I suppose you are right. When did you get to be so smart?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. No one ever really listens to me."

"Well, perhaps if you spoke up, that would be incentive for them to listen better."

She ducked her head. "I guess. What's for dinner?"

"I don't know, I haven't looked to see what we have."

"The usual," she informed him. "I made sure the kitchen was stocked before we took off."

"Well, I don't know what the usual is, so I'll go look and put something together soon."

"Alright," she agreed and as he turned to leave, she said, "Master Luke?"

"Yes?"

"Are we going to put my lightsaber together before we do the Master-Padawan bond?"

"I don't know. I'll ask Mara what she thinks. At this point I would say it's likely. I'd like to get Ben's help, or…Dad's."

"Who's Ben?" she asked as she adjusted on the meditation cushion she was sitting on.

"Oh… sorry, I was referring to Obi-Wan," Luke said.

"Why did you call him Ben…oh…yeah," she frowned, "The other timeline. Why was he calling himself Ben?"

"He was in hiding, from the Empire," Luke said.

"You mean from Daddy, when Daddy was a Sith, don't you?"

"Yes. I know you've had a lot to take in the last couple of days, Jasmine. How are you handling it?"

She thought a few moments about the question, then said, "I don't think I am handling it. I don't think I've even had time for it to really hit me. The history you remember…it sounds like a bad horror holovid to me, only instead of the bad guy changing history to make it, you changed history to unmake it. I don't think it even feels real to me yet. I don't know that it ever will, anymore than the stories of Nomi Sunrider or any of the other stories that I've heard growing up, even the ones about when you and Leia and Liz were little."

Luke nodded, "I think I understand what you are saying, at this point I don't know if the life I led here will ever be more than that, and I don't know what to do about it."

She smiled at him. "What about Master Qui-Gon?"

He raised an eyebrow. "That might be a possibility," Luke said looking thoughtful.

She nodded. "You don't remember him, do you?"

"Yes, I do. We spent a fair amount of time together, saving…Mom and Dad."

She rolled her eyes. "No, I mean you don't remember him being your Master."

"Oh, you mean like this?"

She nodded. "Yes. You haven't gone to see him since you got back from Korriban have you?"

"Well, I somehow doubt it. I was under the impression that it was late when I got back. Then my memories were suppressed by whatever happened when we came back, and I know for a fact that I haven't seen him since then."

"You should go see him when we get back. He's very fond of you, and you usually visit him quite frequently."

"I'll do that, but first, I think dinner is in order?"

She nodded happily and he left the room, thinking hard. Luke found his wife to be troubled and that didn't sit well with him. After he had checked on Jasmine, he went back to see her again; she was sleeping peacefully. He left her alone, smiling, glad that she'd been able to take his advice, and went to the galley to see what he could scrounge up for their dinner.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 30:4:3**

Leia nervously rang the bell at her parent's door, and Threepio answered.. "Miss Leia," he greeted her, "A pleasure to see you again. Master Anakin said that you and Master Secura would be coming by for dinner."

He stepped aside, and she walked into the common room, followed by her Master. Aayla hadn't left her side since she had arrived when Leia was saying good-bye to Han.

She looked around, and the Togruta who had been with her father earlier in the day was still there. He looked much more comfortable around her than she was with her Master. "Hey," Ahsoka said casually as she lounged against the door frame to what Leia assumed was the kitchen.

"Hello, Ahsoka," she said, and she got a smile for her efforts. "Is there anything that we can do to help?"

"Nah, Wings has the table set already, and Master Skywalker is supervising food preparation."

Leia relaxed a little and smiled. Master Skywalker meant her father, but she needed to talk to him anyway. She went over to the door to the kitchen, and found that Anakin was engrossed in what appeared to be a cooking lesson with one of her younger sisters. He looked up at her, aware of her presence, then back at what he was doing. It was brief enough that the girl in question didn't notice.

He gave her clear and concise instructions for the next several steps. She had never attempted cooking; it was frowned upon as a member of the Royal House of a planet to cook, and after Alderaan had been destroyed, she had been a leader in the alliance, and hadn't had either the time or inclination to learn to cook. Everything he said went straight over her head, but Wings—Julia?—seemed to understand. He glanced at Ahsoka, who nodded, taking over where he had left off, helping Julia complete the dish she was preparing.

"Leia, I have been meaning to talk with you," he said, and it was cool and reserved, as though he didn't know what reception to expect. "Perhaps we can step out on the balcony while Julia and Ahsoka finish up dinner?"

She nodded, and followed him out. She breathed a sigh of relief when Aayla seemed disinclined to join them, and she sat on one of the benches. "Ahsoka seems nice," she said, not wanting to load the conversation with emotional content just yet.

He didn't sit beside her, as she half expected, but stood at the rail, looking out at the traffic, the sunset, and the skyline, "She is. She was my Padawan during the Clone Wars, and apparently here as well."

"I wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier," she said.

He sighed, "I understand that this is difficult for you."

"It's got to be hard on you as well."

"I'll manage, but I'm worried about you," he said, looking back at her for a moment. "We have talked about the dark side a bit. Your anger today, that could turn into trouble for you," he said, but it didn't sound like the beginning of a lecture. In fact, it sounded pained, probably because he was remembering something out of his past.

She was touched by the sentiment, and he looked at her, his eyes like Luke's, eyes that could be so vulnerable or so cold, depending on what was going on at the time, and she wondered what it would have been like, remembering growing up, looking into those eyes. "I have a lot of work to do, if I want to become a Jedi, but Luke told me that already."

"That's not what's bothering you," he said, turning fully to her, scrutinizing her. "You're…annoyed," she was quiet, not knowing what to say to that. "You're not even annoyed at me."

She sighed, glancing inside, "It's Master Secura," she told him, tucking one knee up under her chin. She couldn't figure out how to tuck the other one in around her stomach.

He raised an eyebrow, and she smiled at him. "I like Aayla Secura well enough. She's a talented Jedi, and smart enough to know her own limitations, most of the time."

"Well, apparently she doesn't know where mine are," she said under her breath.

"No one inside will hear you, Leia, if you need to get something off your chest, I'll listen."

She nodded after a moment. "After I watched you die, it hurt, it hurt that you would leave us like that."

Exasperation showed clearly in his body language. She didn't understand how he could go from the nearly inscrutable Vader to this active, full-body sort of expression so quickly, but he had. "Princess, it was never my intention to leave you, but Palpatine was a threat that had to be stopped, at any price. I just wish we'd gotten Maul as well. I hate the thought that I might have left you and Luke stuck alone in the past, but I would do it again, even knowing that would be the outcome."

"I know," she whispered. "I just have lost so many people, and now they are all alive, but the price is that they don't remember the fight that it took to save them."

"Leia, sometimes it will hurt to be here. I can't take that away from you, but there will be good times, too," he said, "But you know that already. What's bothering you?"

She sighed, and even to her it wasn't a good sound. "I wish she would leave me alone. She's like an anxious parent, or something, and she is all smiles and good cheer," she looked up at him, and he had an incredulous look on his face. "Well she is."

"Is she really?" he asked her, "Or is she covering up her nervousness at not knowing what to say to you, what to do for you?"

Leia looked inside, thoughtfully, not really focusing on her Master, or anyone else inside, for that matter. "I think she might be."

"Have you been putting on faces for her, too?"

"I've been polite," she insisted.

"But you are not telling her how you feel."

She rolled her eyes. "I just met her this morning."

"Not in her eyes, though she seems to be taking it well."

"What do you think would happen if I told her that I don't want her around?"

"She would be hurt, and I don't think she would understand," Anakin said after a moment's thought.

"And she probably wouldn't go away," Leia said.

He frowned at her. "You are reading her quite accurately, I believe."

"She keeps insisting that she can't feel me through the Force, that I'm blocked off and then she looks at me like I've grown a second head or something, every once in a while."

"I can feel you just fine, through the Force. Your Force-signature is somewhat muted, especially when compared to your twin's but I think it's just the after-effects of whatever was done when the two of you were infants to keep you safe from the Empire. You should be perfectly able to touch the Force if you wish. I don't doubt that you do it unconsciously even now."

"Then why can't she see that?"

"I really don't know. Perhaps part of what was suppressed was your ability to form bonds through the Force. Obi-Wan and Yoda would have known that they couldn't lock all your talent away; maybe they only locked what would be most basic to learning for most younglings, and hoped that would be enough."

"So, what do I do about it?" she asked, facing out, looking at the skyline with him.

"Well, you are a politician, and most of the time, that includes learning a great deal of tact. I suggest that you find some polite way to tell her to bug off for a while. You didn't want to come to dinner," he changed topic and demeanor at the same time, effectively closing the previous subject.

"I'm not sure that I particularly mind the idea of dinner with you and Julia?" he nodded that she had the right name, "But…"

"You would have liked some choice in the matter?"

"Yes. It's like I'm being thrown into someone else's life, and I am not quite ready for routines that aren't mine, and I should do this because of that."

It was a long moment before he answered, and he spent most of that looking at his hands folded on the railing in front of him. "I wouldn't like being backed into a corner like you are feeling now, either. If it makes you feel better, I wouldn't be any more civil to anyone around me than you are being. Less, actually. I don't have anything approaching your mother's tact, and at least you have that to soften the blow of your temper."

She smiled. "More like to sharpen the blade."

"Well," he said philosophically, "At least it hurts less going in that way."

She turned and stared at him in disbelief, but before she could get over the shock of him making a joke, the door to the balcony opened, and she tensed, and she could see him doing the same. "Dinner's ready," Julia said as they turned toward her. "And can you two at least pretend you're not fighting through dinner? I hate scraping the frost off the windows after," she said, and walked back into the common room.

"Apparently you aren't the only one who thinks they're funny," Leia said in a low voice, and started toward the door.

"Well, I do try," he said with a heavy sigh, "But no one seems to appreciate that any more."

The door to their quarters opened as the balcony door slid shut. "Mom, you're home?" Julia squealed delightedly, going over and hugging her mother.

"I thought I would come home early, but I have a meeting with the Loyalist committee after dinner."

"Daddy and Leia are fighting again," Julia said in a stage whisper.

"Well, I imagine that will work itself out soon enough," Padmé said, and went into her bedroom long enough to take her cloak off. "I wouldn't worry, Juls."

Julia looked at both of them, and shrugged. "Ok, Mom. If you say so," she said, and they gathered around the table for dinner.

* * *

**New Ralltiir, 39:4:3**

Darth Maul held his tongue. It wasn't easy, but if he wanted to make his efforts on this planet worthwhile, he needed to. "They are sending who?"

"An Old Ben Wan Kenobi, and his Padawan. Something Skywalker."

Translated into the reality that the rest of the world lived in, that made the Master of the duo Obi-Wan Kenobi, and one of his Padawans. His patience was strained and it showed slightly, "He has two Padawans with the name Skywalker, or three if you count the fact that the third married into that family. Which one?"

"Uh, I think it was a girl's name," Teriolt said, sweat beading on his forehead, "Jade something maybe."

"Mara Jade?" he asked, knowing that to have been the second of Kenobi's three apprentices.

"No, not Mara, just the Jade-something name, and Skywalker."

"It is the new one, then," he said to himself. "Very well. I will contact you after they land. I have enough to occupy my time until then."

"Sure thing, Jeres, no problem. I'll make sure no one bothers you," Teriolt said, not even blinking at the wealth of knowledge Maul displayed in regards to the Jedi.

"That won't be necessary," Maul told the odious little man, and he strode out of the room. No one would see the door that he would be behind unless they were very Force-sensitive, in which case, he would be wanting to speak with them anyway. One of his many concerns was finding someone who could potentially replace his current apprentice. He had become somewhat enthralled with his first apprentice, enough that he'd had her cloned when she proved less than adequate. He hadn't told her that, though. When the new one had gotten to an age to be of use, he'd told the new to kill the old, and she had. She had been raised in the way of the Sith; as he had. He had no idea where he had come from before he was a Sith, because his master had never seen fit to tell him. Not that he cared, but it would have been an interesting bit of knowledge, and knowledge was power.

He toyed with the idea of telling her what he thought of her, her weakness, and her obsession with the Skywalker boy. Telling her that he was looking for a replacement might drive her further into the dark side. Perhaps. It was difficult to gauge her reactions, especially with this new aspect to her. It had been the thing that had most intrigued him about the original, and now most frustrating about the clone.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:3**

Anakin felt giddy and apprehensive. Padmé had come home early; at least when Julia greeted her mother, she'd sounded surprised at the fact she was home before it was bedtime. He was surprised, too. Even during the Clone Wars, she really hadn't been able to get away from the Senate as much as she would have liked to have done while he was home. Part of that had been appearances, but it truly was mostly that she really did work that hard.

He was staring blankly at a datapad. He had no idea what he was reading, he just needed something to occupy his hands with until he'd calmed down enough so that he could go to bed. Julia had been in bed for an hour; Leia had gone back to her quarters, and Aayla had left with her. Ahsoka had been reluctant to leave, but he'd finally convinced her that there was no way that she could help him.

It was the very practicality of not being able help with this because he had to deal with this as her husband finally did the job. "Anakin," Padmé said, startling him. He'd been so deep in thought that he hadn't heard her come out of her bedroom. _Their_ bedroom.

"Yes?" he asked when his heart had stopped pounding, jumping into his throat from his chest.

She pulled the datapad from his hands, turned it off and laid it down on the low table in front of him. "It's time to go to bed, and if I don't make sure you get to bed now, I doubt you will go to bed at all." He finally looked at her, her hair down, and he knew that she'd just brushed it. Her nightgown was much like any he remembered her wearing, slinky and silky, accentuating her curves in ways that made his heart start pounding again, though for different reasons.

He sighed; she was right. She was always right. "I don't know that I'm ready to go to bed. I was reading that."

"Anakin, it's not that I don't understand. I do, but you haven't been to bed in two days."

"I'll be fine," he protested, but she tugged on his arm, and, rather than resist her, he let her pull him up.

"I don't care how 'fine' you will be. You need your sleep, and I need mine, and that includes you being in bed with me," she said, leading him along as though he were one of their children. He probably deserved the treatment more than he knew.

Once they were in the bedroom, she let him go, slipping out of the robe that had partially covered the nightgown, though not well. The two garments were a set, and her shoulders, which had been covered by the robe, now only had a single strap each, they crossed in the back, he noted as she put the robe on a hook in their closet.

She walked over to him, slowly but with purpose. "Anakin," she said as she was within touching distance, "Don't you think you should get ready for bed?"

He had reached out to her involuntarily, hoping that she would accept his touch. She did, and he fought not to be overwhelmed by her scent, and the feel of her body against his as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "I should," he agreed, and he stepped back from her. It was the hardest thing he'd had to do in a while. Throwing the Emperor from the Throne Room, while physically taxing, had been easy. Living, so that he could see his children, because they needed him, hadn't even taken thought.

It was hard because it made him feel as though he was living in a dream, and didn't want to wake up from that dream. He undressed mechanically. Even though it had been years in his mind since he'd lived in the Temple, he still knew where everything would be. His room was organized in the same way that it had been when he was a child and when he had been a knight, and now that the world thought he was a Master, things hadn't changed, at least not that. It was comforting in some ways and it made him deeply sad in other ways.

Perhaps if he hadn't been so afraid the first time around he wouldn't have had to come back and save himself.

Once he'd finished putting his sleep pants on, he turned slowly toward the bed. It was almost surreal, dream-like, perfect. Padmé was watching him, and he wanted to think she was watching him in the way that he'd remembered, before Mustafar.

He turned the light out, and slid under the covers into the bed. She slid over next to him, and it felt so natural, so right. He didn't know what to do with himself. He put his arms around her, drinking in the feel of her, the smell of her skin, the heat of her body.

She'd not said anything to him about wanting anything other than sleep, so he wasn't prepared for the moment when she kissed him. It wasn't a good-night kiss, either, and he wanted it to stretch on forever, but he didn't know her anymore. He loved her more than his own life, but he felt oddly detached from what she seemed to want. He tightened his hold on her, but he broke the kiss off.

"Anakin?" she asked, her hand gently touching the side of his face.

"I don't know if this is a good idea."

She buried her head into his chest. "I still love you."

He squeezed her tight. "I love you, too. I just don't know what to do. This still feels like a dream."

She moved so that she could see his face in the dim light from the high windows. "Have you forgotten how this works?" she asked him, amused.

He blushed. It had been years upon years since anyone had tried to tease him, and he had no idea how to respond to that. "I think I remember the mechanics, I just don't know how to make my life stop feeling like a dream."

She snuggled back into his chest. "You and Leia are having problems?" she asked, changing the subject to something less dream-like.

"Three weeks isn't enough time to get over the idea that your father tortured you," he said bluntly. She gasped. "I'm not going to hide from what I've done."

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself," she admonished him. "Yes it's hard on her, living through what happened in the other time, but she's trying. You're trying. It will work out, I think. At least this time you're being civil to one another."

"This time?"

She snorted, and he squeezed her against him because he thought it was cute. "You think this is the first time you've butted heads with your very strong-willed daughter?"

He sighed. "Is that what Julia was talking about?"

"Yes, though the fight you two were having over Han was a bit over the top. I think there was a point that you realized that you were wrong, you just didn't know how to tell her."

He thought for a moment. "I doubt I will be any better now. Being Vader wasn't ever a lesson in how to get along with your kids."

"So I've heard," she said wryly.

"When?"

"Luke and I had a long discussion about the nature of the dark side. I think that getting along with the two of them was one of the rather in-depth topics."

"I didn't think he had time in the last couple of days."

"Oh, no. This was on Tatooine, when I was fourteen."

"Why would that have even come up?" he asked, having been taken by surprise.

"Oh," she said quietly, tracing little circles on his chest, as he remembered her doing when she was nervous, "I think there were a number of reasons that actually came up."

"Such as?" he asked, laying his hand over hers, stilling it, which had the added benefit of her actually looking at him.

"Well, he told me some very general things about how his father had turned to the dark side while we were on the way to Tatooine."

Anakin thought back to that time, and realized he had actually known that. So much had happened in so short a time for him, though, that he hadn't thought about it. "Yes," he agreed, "I spoke with Luke about that at the time."

"Really?"

"Yes. I was able to tell Luke a great many things about our history while we were there in the past, and he told me about what he was doing."

"Oh, so how much do you know?" she asked, and he could tell that she was at least somewhat embarrassed.

"There was, as I recall, a conversation about how you hit him because he told you the truth about his relationship to you."

She seemed uncomfortable, and he wondered exactly why. She had never been an open book to him, the way that many people were, which both intrigued and frustrated him. "He never said anything about talking to you."

"You didn't know to ask, and it's not a common skill, even now, I'll bet."

"No, but I should have been suspicious when Master Yoda knew that you could talk long distance with each other even through hyperspace."

"Master Yoda is a very wise man, and he knows a lot that no one knows how he knows."

She nodded; he could feel it as her head lay against his chest. "He is. He cares a great deal for you, you know."  
"I never really thought that he liked me. I suppose that's prejudice because the Council initially rejected my petition to be trained, and only accepted me after Obi-Wan told them he was training me because it was Qui-Gon's last wish."

"Qui-Gon is a very wise Master, and has taught you many things. He's getting older now, but he still teaches."

"Good. I will go have a talk with him later. Now, about that talk you had with Luke."

"Oh. It's rather an unflattering story."

"You were fourteen, and had, I assume this is after he told you that he was your son?" he felt her nod, "You had just found that out?"

"Yes," she sighed, "I just don't like talking about it. I don't like thinking about it."

"About the dark side?"

"No, about the events that precipitated the discussion about the dark side," he was quiet for a moment and was soon rewarded with a sigh. "Luke told me that he was ours, not you specifically, I didn't have a face to go with the horrors that he'd told me already about his father. I talked to Leia after that, and she convinced me that he was telling the truth. I pressed her for details on who their father was, she didn't want to tell me, but it was obvious that she was much less accepting of the idea of her father than Luke was. She deflected, she wanted me to talk to Luke about it, and she was probably right; he is much more objective about things than she is, though I didn't know it at the time. I'd known Leia longer, and I trusted her. Luke had tried to be Luke, and I didn't realize at the time that he was just trying to have a relationship with me because he needed me, not because he had any feelings for me, or rather those kind of feelings. Which had been what I had thought before I found out he was my son."

"Oh," Anakin said, "That makes it make more sense."

"What?"

"You hitting him."

"Luke is such a sweet, innocent boy, not to mention having his father's VERY good looks," she said, "I guess I had a crush on him."

"Well, perhaps that was because you were seeing the qualities that you loved in his father in him."

She was quiet for a moment. "I suppose that could be. I'd never thought of it like that. It's not really important to this," she sighed, "I didn't ask Luke about it, but I made some terrible assumptions, because of the monster that Luke had described to me and the terrible fear I could see in Leia."

"What kind of assumptions?" he asked quietly, but a little terror and a spike of fear mixed into his blood, in spite of the fact that they were discussing the distant past.

"I thought I could never love someone who would become the monster you had. I determined that the only possible way that Luke and Leia could have been conceived would have been through violence."

He held her tighter. "I'm sorry that you felt that way, ever."

"It's alright, Ani," she said with a pat on his cheek. "I didn't keep that thought for long," her voice turned sad and serious, "It was long enough that I almost did something unconscionable, though." She paused, starting to make little circles on his chest again. He let her, and he had just enough patience to wait her out. "I always carried a blaster with me while I was Queen, we all did," she said quietly, "I thought that what would be best for the galaxy would be for the monster to be destroyed, but I wasn't looking at Vader, I was looking at a nine-year-old boy."

He felt something wet on his chest, and he knew how much this particular episode hurt her. "What happened?" he asked, knowing that something had, but not what, not exactly. A picture was forming in his mind, but it was an ugly one, and he didn't like that.

"I took my holdout blaster, and I was going to shoot you, to stop the Empire, to stop you from raping me, as I'd imagined," he held her, not knowing what to say, or even if he could say anything that would help her. "But Luke stopped me, and he told me what really happened, how you'd been told that you had having dreams of me dying in childbirth, and that turning to Palpatine was what you thought was the only way to save me from dying. He saved you from me that day, but he also saved me from myself."

"He's good at that," Anakin agreed. He could remember dreaming while he was in the past, like watching in slow-motion, silence, the things she had described, but through the Force alone, and not with his eyes.

"I didn't want to kill you," she said, "But fear narrowed my focus until that was all I could see. Even the thought that I wouldn't have Luke and Leia anymore couldn't convince me that it was a bad enough idea to keep the fear from leading me down that road. So, after he talked me out of killing you, we went to the kitchen, and we talked about the nature of the dark side, and how fear could so easily lead anyone down the slippery slope to destruction."

He looked down at her. He could feel through the Force that she had known for thirty-six years that, given the opportunity, he would have turned to a depraved madman who destroyed everything in his path to assuage the guilt in his heart over having killed her, and she had chosen to love him anyway, because she had loved their children. He realized that as he looked at her, and he didn't know how he was going to be worthy of a love like that, but he knew that he had to try. She looked up at him, quiet, letting him work through his thoughts, and he very gently kissed her on the lips. He didn't yet know where it would lead, but knowing that she was not seeing him as solely the person he'd been before, and that she understood the dark scars on his heart, and she'd seen the scars on his body, at least briefly, made his love for her swell inside his heart. She understood, and she was going to stand by his side whatever he decided he needed to do.

He had always been aggressive in the bedroom, and now he was afraid to be. Padmé seemed to sense his hesitation, and she pulled away a little, enough for him to see her smile. "It's ok," she told him. "We can take this slowly if you need to."

"I don't want to hurt you," he said, "I'm afraid that I've been…"

He couldn't continue, but she didn't need him to. "You don't trust yourself anymore," she diagnosed sadly. "My trust in you isn't enough?"

"It helps," he said, "But when you've forgotten where the line between right and wrong is, it's hard to find again."

"You will find it," she assured him, "Because you have never let the idea that something is difficult stop you."

He admitted to himself that she was right, but that didn't mean he could handle hurt or rejection from her right now. "I know," he said, "But I don't think I can charge in with my lightsaber ablaze on this one either."

"So, slowly, then," she said, and he could tell from the tone of her voice that she was smiling. "My Ani is finally learning patience," she mused, "I don't know that I could handle that."

"Caution," he corrected her, "The ground doesn't feel even and I've been blindfolded."

"And the Force isn't being helpful?"

"Well, it is, but I'm not sure I can do this," he admitted finally.

"Master Yoda seems confident that you will be fine. I know that you can figure this out," she said, "I wouldn't have stayed with you for all of these years if I didn't," she said, and he wanted to say something else, but it was lost as she kissed him.

* * *

**En route to New Ralltiir, _Suncatcher V, _39:4:3**

Obi-Wan frowned. It wasn't something he did often, but the situation warranted it. Jaedrea had gone to bed; hyperspace bored her, and he wasn't about to let her fly the ship. It was not that he didn't trust her ability to navigate the ship appropriately; he didn't trust her ability to fly the ship without giving him a heart attack.

She had about as much concern for his feeling of personal safety as her father did, but that wasn't his current problem. His current problem was that Anakin was no longer the same person that he'd helped raise, helped to grow into a Jedi, and there was nothing he could do about it. He thought back to the time that he had met Anakin first; not the little boy from Tatooine, but the former Sith Lord who had been sent to the past to save himself. How easily Anakin had brought emotions out in him, how quickly they had bonded, how he had trusted him almost immediately. Now he wanted to help Anakin, but he didn't know how, didn't even know where to begin.

He knew Ahsoka to be one of the best Mind Healers in the Order, and that made things better. Anakin was unofficially being given leave to deal with the issues that his spirit being thrust into his body, and the problems of him not melding with the aspect of his spirit that was there already were causing. Obi-Wan felt helpless in the face of this potential disaster, and he knew that he shouldn't; he didn't have any idea that this was going to happen, and there were no records of anything similar ever having happened.

Jaedrea worried, and that worried him slightly. She didn't even know what was going on, but she knew that something was afoot, and that made her devilishly curious, meaning that he would need to keep her very busy over the next few weeks to keep her mind off of the actual problem. Fortunately, that was something he had vast amounts of experience in doing, having had to contend with her father's restless spirit. "Do what you can," he told himself, "And don't worry about the problems that you can't fix." It was unfortunate that he couldn't seem to take the advice he was giving himself.

* * *

**Bespin, Cloud City, Lando's Office, 39:4:3**

Lando was sure that something was wrong with him, and it made him nervous. He was starting his day, and he'd spent the night tossing and turning. Lobot responded to his needs without a word, his much more logical mind probably already figuring out what needed to be done to accommodate this newest venture. There was a cup of caf on his desk, a much-needed relief from the nearly-sleepless night he'd had thinking about his new business partner. The fact that thoughts of her had kept him up nearly all night was beginning to not sit well with him; the caf was starting to make him feel like a fog was clearing from his head as well.

"Lobot?" he called to his ever-present shadow.

Lobot slipped into the room, waiting for whatever issue Lando had summoned him for. "Do you think this deal with Ms. Tann is a good one?"

Lobot blinked in an approximation of surprise. "It will be profitable. Keeping the Mining Guild out of the city is truly the most valuable thing she offers, and if she can accomplish that, then her services are worth much more than she is skimming from this weapons arrangement."

"I don't know if I like this arrangement. I don't know that I am entirely satisfied with it."

"The Republic does frown on such arrangements, sir. You are perhaps encountering doubt because of the illicit nature of the arrangement?"

"No, it's not that. Something I can't put my finger on."

"The arrangement is not terribly unusual, other than the fact that there is no pre-arranged end date for the contract."

"Are there conditions for ending the contract?"

"Some standard ones like the agreement of both parties, but not really, no."

Lando thought for a minute. "Something seems not quite right, but I can't put my finger on it. Can you find out more about Ms. Tann?"

"No, sir, I cannot."

"Why?"

"I have already tried, and there is nothing to be had. I cannot even find a birth record for her. It is possible that she was not born within the bounds of the Republic," Lando sat back, sipping his caf, trying to find his way into the slippery problem of one Miss Sev'rance Tann.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:4, early morning**

Padmé woke, and was a bit disoriented for a moment, but then she realized why she'd woken; Anakin was in the throws of a nightmare, and she'd gotten a couple of bruises from previous ones, so her mind had decided long ago that she needed to be awake if he was going to be thrashing about as he often did when he was fighting inside himself. "Ani?" she gently shook him, and his eyes flew open. He sucked in a deep breath, and relaxed a little. His body was still a coiled spring, but that was the normal state of things when he had just woken from a nightmare. "Ani?" she asked again, "Are you ok?"

"More than ok," he said, drawing her close, holding on to her as though she were the only solid thing in the universe.

"What's going on?"

"Nightmare," he told her, easing off on his grip, for which she was grateful.

"I know that," she said, brushing her hair out of her eyes, "I was wanting details."

"Oh." She watched him as he organized his thoughts. "I was dreaming about Mustafar."

She'd heard the name, and gotten a sketchy outline of what had happened there. "So no big prophecies?"

"No, just a nightmare. I would normally say that I should get up, but…"

"I don't think shorting yourself on sleep is going to make the nightmares go away. You need to let your mind work through this, and I imagine you've been ignoring it."

Guilty silence followed, and he turned, curling his body around her. "You're right," he said with a sigh, and she felt more than heard the deep breath that he took to try to calm himself. It was not long at all before he was fully asleep again, despite his protests that he didn't want to continue to try to sleep. She snuggled into his chest, and went back to sleep as well.

* * *

**En route to Shiava, _Valenthyne Farfalla,_ 39:4:4**

Cedric handed the results of his last hour's work to his Master. She looked over the query carefully. "I don't think we need the names of the Jedi assigned to missions. Statistical data should be sufficient for this."

He sighed and nodded. He had hoped he would get that one by her, but he couldn't disagree with her. "I understand, Master."

"You are too curious for your own good some days," she told him as she deleted part of the query. "I like the comparison between that and other mission types, but do you really think it's necessary to do this for the past 1000 years? I imagine that we could start with 100 years, and if it's not sufficient, we can pull more data."

"Yes; the database will always be there. We could probably even do the last 50 years and get a rough idea. The Sith have only been exposed for the last 36."

She nodded. "I can see that. Yes, 50 years sounds like a good starting place."

"Does it need to be more specific, Master?"

"No, not right now. We can check into further information if this actually produces something interesting."

He smiled, and he caught her look of surprise, which she quickly covered with a smile of her own. His smile turned to a mix of apology and pain. "I'm sorry."

"For enjoying your work? There's nothing for you to be sorry about."

"By the surprise on your face, I would say that it's been far too long since I have smiled. I think that means I need to work on that."

"It's not your fault that something very bad happened to you, Cedric, and it is good to see you get lost in something again."

"So lost that I forget even her, you mean?"

"That wasn't what I meant, but yes. I haven't seen you this involved in something since that day."

"Perhaps I just haven't found anything that captured my interest since then."

She frowned at him; he was poking fun and she realized it. "Perhaps," she agreed finally, "But I am glad of it nevertheless."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Solo Quarters, 39:4:4**

Leia woke in the very early morning. She felt better after a fairly good night's sleep, and decided that she wanted to get some fresh air on the balcony before she had to face her day. She dressed quickly, and walked out into the burgeoning dawn. There was a figure already in meditation on a cushion that had been on the bench nearest to him. "It's alright, Leia, you won't disturb me."

It was her father's voice, and she debated for a moment. "I didn't think anyone would be up. It's so quiet here."

"Everyone is meditating," he said, and she pulled the other cushion off the bench and settled down beside him. "I can guide you through some meditation if you like."

She considered for a moment. "Shouldn't my Master be doing this?"

He nodded, "If you were more comfortable with her, I would say yes, but anyone of Master status should be able to guide a Padawan through meditation."

"Oh," she considered for a moment. "I suppose that would be acceptable. Where is Julia?"

"She's gone to her Master's until breakfast."

"Is there anyone else coming?"

"Well, except for Obi-Wan, who's practically family, and sometimes Qui-Gon, your mother is very strict about this being a family thing. I imagine that Ahsoka ate with us when she was a Padawan, and perhaps some of Obi-Wan's kids, but, you know, family."

"Will Ahsoka be here today?"

"I don't know. She wasn't here until after breakfast yesterday, so perhaps she has grown accustomed to eating on her own, or with her Padawan. It may be that she came straight from her ship."

She nodded. "So, if Julia is at her Master's, should I be at mine?"

"Well, from what your Mother has told me, you are a senior Padawan, and since you don't live with her, I would say that is between you and her. You are in very special circumstances right now, and that that would be something that you should discuss with her."

She nodded. "I'd feel better talking about it with Luke…no offense."

"None taken. She won't bite, and she really cares about you," he scolded her.

She wasn't shocked at him trying humor this time, and she smiled, but she didn't laugh.. "I don't know," she said, sighing and shaking her head. "Weren't you going to try to teach me how to meditate?"

"If you would like, it might help even," he said, and he turned toward her, settling his body comfortably, and she mirrored his pose.

"Are you comfortable?"

"Surprisingly, yes."

"Have you ever meditated before?"

"Luke showed me the basics a couple of years ago, but I am guessing that he was still on a level you would consider Padawan then?"

"This was before we dueled?"

"Yes, and before he went to Dagobah."

"Ah, well, then I suppose we should start with a very basic meditation," he said. "Take my hands," he told her, holding them out. She gingerly placed her hands into his, her left hand touching warm flesh, her right touching cool leather, "Close your eyes, and reach out to me with the Force."

"I can't."

"Yes you can; you're already starting to do it."

She paid more attention to the flows that were expanding from her to meet him. "I am," she said, surprised.

"You doubt me?"

"Well, it's just that when I tried that yesterday, Master Secura said I wasn't getting anywhere."

"Hmm," she felt him poking at her Force energy. "That's what it is. Obi-Wan blocked your connection to the Unifying Force. Aayla's not as strong with the Living Force. That's probably why you were able to go undetected when you were presented to the Emperor. The Living Force is not as subject to the dark side as the Unifying Force," he said, and she shook her head as he did something to her. It wasn't bad, exactly, just unsettling. "There, it's unlocked. I don't know why Aayla didn't see this. She must be really worried to have missed this."

"Why didn't you know that I was Force-sensitive when I met you when I was 18, then?"

He was quiet for a time, and the Force swirling around him feeling slightly unsettled, and, as she noted that, now, it was much clearer.. "Willful blindness, I suppose. Besides, so far as I knew, you didn't exist. Bail hid very carefully your adopted status, at least on Coruscant."

"I learned about that at such an early age, that the idea that it should be a secret from those outside the family was never really something I questioned."

He nodded. "Yes, there would have been political considerations beyond your birth family to take into consideration," he said, then laughed suddenly.

"What?" she asked, her face scrunched up in confusion.

He shook his head. "I was just remembering what Palpatine said to you that day."

She thought for a moment, remembering back to that fearful moment. "You have your father's fire."

"Yes, that would be it. He didn't know how right he was," he said, then turned serious, "Now, your meditation. You are in contact with the Living Force, and until you are more comfortable with your connection with the Unifying Force, you might be better off dealing with only that. It's a little wilder, and more unpredictable than the Unifying Force, but it is still the Force."

"So I was doing it right yesterday?"

"Perhaps. Let us continue with this morning's lesson and we can figure out yesterday later."

"So, what do I need to do?"

"Why don't you try what you were doing yesterday?"

She made a face, but settled into the meditation that Aayla had been trying to teach her. "She said that I needed to reach out to the Force, but I don't, I just, I don't know, open up and it floods into me."

"Definitely Living Force," he agreed. "Reaching out is something you have to do with the Living Force sometimes, but the Living Force can be like a living thing, and it expresses desires, preferences, demands attention, and directs actions."

"So does the Living Force prefer Skywalkers?"

"It does seem to some days. But then, we listen to it."

She tried listening, but listening with her ears got her nowhere, and she was open to the Force. She felt some sort of mental tug, and she followed it, listened to it, she supposed. She tried to remember the steps for meditation that Aayla had taught her the day before, but she realized that she didn't need those, not for this. The tugging in the Force brought her to a place inside her self. She felt small, standing in a big room, alone. Then suddenly she wasn't alone. "Well, this is one way to do it, Leia," her father said.

"I did this?"

"Well, I imagine you would think that the Force did this, but yes."

"What is the purpose of a room inside my head like this?"

"It blocks out the distraction of the outside world while you work out what you need to work out. You can do lightsaber forms in here, scream, shout, whatever, and on the outside you are calmly meditating."

"Do most Jedi use mental imaging like this?"

"Some do, I think it's a matter of how active their mind is. I do this more than I do the calm-center-quiet-of-your-mind thing Obi-Wan insists is meditating."

She stifled a giggle at the thought, and he smiled at her. There was suddenly a bar above Anakin's head, which he proceeded to swing himself up onto, balancing across his midsection. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"I woke up this morning next to your mother and had to pinch myself to convince my mind I wasn't still dreaming. I think enjoying myself is a mild term for the way I'm feeling."

Leia shook her head as her father played, there was no other word for what he was doing and said. "If only the stuffed-suited in the Imperial Navy could see you now."

"They'd have been really scared, I guess, if they even knew who I was without the suit," her father said with a boyish grin on his face.

"I wish Luke were here. He always knows how to make things better."

"Your brother has his own issues to work out. He'll be home in a couple of weeks."

Leia didn't feel reassured; two weeks was a long time right now. "But why did they have to leave right away?"

"It's traditional," Anakin said. "Of course, the ideal is to go once when you become a Padawan, and not go again until you have become someone's Master. In the other timeline, I believe I lost my lightsaber about thirty times before I was Knighted."

"Let's see. You became Obi-Wan's Padawan when you were nine."

"That's right."

"And you were, what 20 when you were knighted?"

"Something like that. I might have hit 21. I'm not entirely sure, at this point."

"So that's something just over ten years?"

"Yes."

"That's three lightsabers a year."

"On average, though it tended to be almost every mission when I was smaller, and less often as I grew older. The one I lost on Geonosis I had kept for about a year, but I didn't actually misplace that one, it was cut in half by a machine. I probably could have repaired it, had I had time and a few tools."

"Geonosis?"

He smiled at her. "Geonosis was where your mother first told me that she loved me."

"Why am I not surprised that you were doing something terribly dangerous when she decided that?"

"It wasn't that dangerous, well, I suppose I should say that it wasn't any more dangerous than any other thing your mother decided to do. We were there because she decided that we were going."

"Why?"

"To rescue Obi-Wan. He was trying to track the beings who were attempting to assassinate her."

She rubbed her hand across her eyes. "I never imagined I'd be having a civil conversation with you, especially about this."

He grinned down at her. "That's understandable. There is so much I regret, Leia. So much I wish I could undo…well I suppose I got that wish."

"So, Mother dragged you to Geonosis and what happened?"

"First, I wanted to go, but I was supposed to be hiding her away on Naboo, and, truthfully, her company was a lot more pleasant than Obi-Wan's. He didn't have Siri to mellow him out."

"You think he's mellowed out? And who is this Siri?"

"Siri is Obi-Wan's wife, and she's off somewhere or another with Ash and Nadina. He's much more open than I remember, and so I assume that is the influence of having been married for a long time. It certainly did me good. It wasn't really long after I was married that I was knighted, and they cited my new-found calm as one of their reasons."

She decided she didn't need to know who Ash and Nadina were; she was having enough trouble keeping everyone straight in her immediate family. "I was told that I'm not supposed to be pregnant or married. It's against the rules."

He blinked at her. "What specific rules are you talking about?"

"The one that says that Padawans aren't supposed to be married," she told him as he jumped down from his perch.

"Well, I suppose I broke that one, then, too, unless somehow we were convinced to wait, or we didn't meet again until after I was Knighted. I don't know," he said, scratching the back of his neck.. "I suppose I'll have to ask Padmé or Obi-Wan. Come on, it's time we got moving."

"What time is it?"

"Dunno, but I smell something, don't you?" he disappeared from her mind, and she tried smelling, but that wasn't going to work. It took her a moment to figure out how to get out of the room she'd created inside her head, and when she opened her eyes, Anakin was still sitting across from her.

She sniffed the air. "There is something, but I don't think anyone is cooking in there," she said, indicating the darkened kitchen in his quarters.

"Yes," he said, looking at the chrono. "But I appear to be the resident cook, so I need to get started if I'm going to feed everyone."

"I would have never thought that Darth Vader cooked."

"Oh," he said, standing up and offering her his hand, which she took, "He didn't."

She didn't know what to say to that, but followed her father inside. "So, what are you fixing for breakfast?"

"Well, that seems to be the question of the hour. There are only four of us, so I don't need anything huge."

"Do you normally cook for large groups?"

"I cooked some when I was out in the fields, and I've cooked for Padmé, but as a rule, large group cooking isn't something I've done in a kitchen."

"So, I guess you have something to learn," she said.

"What about you?"

"I've never been in a kitchen in my life."

"Then it's high time you learned," he said.

"Oh, no, you don't," Padmé said, coming in behind them. "She's an absolute disaster in the kitchen."

"Good morning, Angel," he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "What do you mean, she's a disaster in the kitchen?"

"She just is. I don't know what it is, but she can't even do simple things, like boil water without some disaster befalling it."

"I'm right here," Leia said from the doorway to the dining room. , smiling in spite of the teasing, cherishing the feeling of...family that was in the room suddenly.

"And much safer for it, trust me," her mother said, patting her hand, "Especially with you being pregnant, and not totally in tune with your Force abilities." Leia sighed. "Come on, you can help me with the table, and if you want, I have a bill I haven't had time to thoroughly dissect yet and I need to before the Senate starts this morning."

Julia walked in as Leia was sitting down at the table after she and her mother had set it. "Dad in the kitchen?" she asked.

"Yes."

Julia went in to the kitchen while Padmé came out of her bedroom, bringing a datapad. "Here," she said, and Leia began reading. She quickly became absorbed in the text of the bill that was before the Senate.

* * *

**En route to New Ralltiir, _Suncatcher V, _39:4:4**

_Jaedrea was walking through the Temple, and strangely, there was no one around. She wasn't feeling well; or rather she was feeling that there was something that was just not right. It took her a moment to put her finger on what was happening. She wasn't in control; she could see through her eyes, but she wasn't the intelligence behind them—that was a dark presence. She was horrified, and increasingly so as she wandered around the strangely empty temple. _

_She saw Jazzy, and her throat constricted in fear. Jazzy held a crystal in her hand, a big one. She heard herself say something, but it wasn't clear, it sounded muffled and far away, and she didn't understand it. Jazzy then said something, and this was even harder to understand, more distant, barely a murmur as Jazzy's lips moved._

_Before she'd finished processing this, Jazzy crumpled to the ground holding her head, and Jae KNEW the dark presence controlling her body was responsible. She screamed at Jazzy to get up and run, but nothing came out of her mouth, then she felt the familiar weight of her lightsaber in her hand and it ignited, the buzz loud in contrast to the almost indistinguishable voices, but, Jazzy just lay there in obvious pain, there were more words, but Jae couldn't hear them any better than the first ones. _

_All at once, she realized what was happening—the dark thing controlling her body was going to hurt Jazzy! She couldn't allow that. She thought about how to fight it as horror filled her while her body did things she would never do. then she thought up a mental image of her lightsaber and struck at the dark figure, this allowed Jazzy to pick up her crystal._

_RUN! Jae screamed wordlessly, but then was stunned when the crystal lit into a lightsaber blade. Jae nodded once, realizing that she was helping her sister by distracting the dark thing. Unfortunately she couldn't think of a way to end this with them both still alive. Jazzy's only hope was for Jae to distract the dark thing enough to allow Jazzy to kill her body, if Jazzy could bring herself to make such a blow. _

_Jae poured her will into the Force, hoping Jazzy would hear what she had to do, she hoped her sister would be able to do it and have the strength to not be destroyed by it. Then she attacked the dark thing fiercely, she didn't know how long she fought it, but sooner than she thought possible she got it, her mental blade pierced the stomach of the shade in her mind and she came into full possession of her body once more only to see clearly a horrific sight, her own blade inside Jazzy's stomach, just like her mental blade pierced the dark shade, then in her mind she heard a laugh…_

She screamed in sudden fear as she woke, her mental pain almost physical. It was mere seconds, and yet lifetimes before her Master arrived. He was fully dressed, so he must have still been up. She was gulping in air, but it wasn't helping, she couldn't breathe from the thought that what she'd seen might become real, that something could hurt her sister through her. "It will be alright," he said as she clung to him the moment he came near enough, "It was just a dream."

He held her tightly, patting her back as she tried to calm down, but it didn't really help, even though it was the only thing that could help her at this point. She still couldn't breathe properly, still couldn't convince her mind that it hadn't actually happened. "Slow down, Jaedrea, you are going to hyperventilate if you aren't careful."

She shuddered as she forced herself to take a deep breath, holding it in for a couple of seconds, and then releasing it slowly. He rubbed a hand across her back as she pressed her face into his shoulder, not crying, not seeing, not anything. As if he could make the images disappear. She noticed, in a detached sort of way, that she was shaking, trembling. The force of the dream had thrown her, because she rarely remembered what she dreamed, and she had never been the one with nightmares; that had always been Jasmine. Her body calmed from the tension created with the nightmare very slowly, and even as that happened, a cold fear that it was somehow going to come true coiled inside her belly, making her shiver against Obi-Wan, even though the shaking was lessening in general. "Do nightmares come true, Master?" she asked quietly.

Obi-Wan seemed torn by the question, and she knew the answer then; at least sometimes, they did. "If we let them," he answered finally.

"What do you mean?"

"Sometimes the Force warns us of a path that shouldn't be followed. It usually isn't particularly clear what action needs to be taken to prevent what is shown, but with meditation, you may be able to figure out what it is. Is that what you think happened?"

She nodded slowly. "I don't know what to do, Master. I'm so scared," she told him, the tears that had been threatening since she'd woken finally spilling over.

"Tell me," he asked of her, and she, hesitantly at first, told him, but after she got started, the story just tumbled out of her.

* * *

**Eriadu, Eriadu City, Maker's Way, 39:4:4**

Han walked into the cantina. It was called the "Maker's Way," and it sounded a little hokey, but that meant it was just the kind of place that he was looking for. There were several droids serving at the bar, and he could handle that, too. There was a sabacc table set up in the back corner, and he would want to go over there, when he had given some consideration to the strange things his wife had told him. Vader, the Empire. She'd said something about remembering her parents, though she had also said that she was only a day old or so when her mother had died. He would have to ask her about that.

There was also the idea that Vader was her father. The man he knew was fun-loving, quick with a joke, and a loving caring, occasionally tyrannical, or at least hot-headed father. He and Anakin had had their differences, but Leia and Padmé had calmed him down long enough to see that he and Leia did really love each other.

A droid server hovered itself near him. "Corellian whiskey," he said.

"Straight up or on the rocks?"

He considered for a moment. "On the rocks."

"We have a local brewery that distills a version, or would you prefer the imported?"

"I'll try the local stuff," he said. The local brews of whiskey weren't always good, but there were some that were at least decent. The brands that were made on Corellia—at least the ones that were exported­­—were always excellent, but they were also pricy. The droid took Chewie's order as well, then turned back to him.

"And how will you be paying tonight?"

He fished out a credit chip, and handed it to the droid. "Will that be sufficient?"

"Yes," the droid said, tucking it into one of its internal compartments. "I will notify you if you exceed this."

He nodded and the droid headed away. Han started looking around, getting a better feel for the place. There were several children in the room. He didn't know the specific laws associated with this planet, but there were very few places that allowed minors into establishments that served alcohol. He saw a small table pushed into a corner with several empty tables around it. Deciding that it would be a perfect place to sit while he decided how he felt about the changes happening around him, he headed toward the small table. He'd warned his co-pilot that he didn't think he'd be too good company tonight, but Chewie had wanted to come anyway. , the Wookiee growled a comment about the children.

"Yeah, I noticed that, but it's a big galaxy, pal," Han said.

Chewie then growled something else.

"Why do you always have to be suspicious?"

Chewie woofed out yet another comment.

"Just because you're usually right doesn't mean you are this time. Don't you think we've earned a mission with nothing more than the reason we came?"

Chewie barked a pointed comment.

"I know, I know, but this might be the exception."

The droid came by a few moments later, delivering their drinks. He took a sip, and finding it more than palatable, he grinned, and then stared into it as he lost himself in thought. And thought came in a tidal wave, jumbled, the way it was for him whenever he took the time to examine what was actually going on inside his head. He had mostly sorted himself out, and was into his second drink when one of the tables around him became occupied.

He wasn't yet prepared to hit the sabacc table, so he just continued to stare into his drink, Chewie and him enjoying companionable silence. Unfortunately, the new arrivals were loud enough that not eavesdropping was next to impossible. "Go get us drinks, boy," a gruff baritone said amongst the scraping of chairs.

"Yes, sir," a trembling young voice said.

"So, what are we going to serve at the party this week's end?" this was posed by a roughly feminine voice, though Han glanced up to be sure. Both of them had settled nearest him, so their backs were turned. He began studying them in depth.

"I was thinking some things out of the garden. I think there will be enough of the squash ready by then."

"What else?" she asked, and the boy came back at this point, curling up on the floor by the man's chair, even though there were seats available. Han found it curious, but didn't want to think what that would mean.

"Perhaps a some sort of dish with Bantha and vegetables," she said, and the serving droid came by at that point, setting two drinks on the table, but nothing for the boy. He saw that the child was barely clothed, and what clothes he did have on were practically rags. The couple, on the other hand, was dressed with all the trappings of a fairly well to do family.

Han wasn't buying it, though, because he had seen people, many people, who lived beyond their means, and he suspected that these were some of those kinds of people. He sat quietly, sipping his whiskey and brooding. The boy looked up at him, and Han looked back. The boy's eyes averted quickly, as though he would be punished for looking at a stranger. Han could see why. The thin face showed much abuse in his young life, if you knew what to look for.

Han knew, because he has seen those soul-scars in the mirror every day when he had been this boy's age. If he was as malnourished as Han suspected, the boy might be as old as twelve, but it was more likely closer to ten. If he had been a well-tended child, he would have been eight, or perhaps younger if his family tended toward the tall side.

Han caught the boy looking again, but maintained a stoic expression. He didn't care one way or the other if the boy was looking at him, and he let that show in his face. Chewie growled in sympathy, and Han only nodded in agreement. Curiosity bloomed onto the boy's face, his upon hearing Chewie and it was clear to Han the boy had not seen him before. The boy's eyes were a muddy, dusty color, somewhere between brown and hazel, and his hair matched it. It was impossible to tell if that was just the natural color of it, or if it was so dirty that it had taken on that shade.

The curiosity made Han almost dizzy with relief, for it meant that he had not been broken, that there was still a human being inside the scrawny body. Patrons at the door caught the attention of the couple. "Stay here, boy," the man said gruffly, not even looking down at him. They walked over to the entrance, making a scene, in Han's mind, anyway, but it served his purposes.

"Psst. Hey," he called softly.

The boy looked up at him. "I'm not allowed to talk to strangers."

Han considered that for a moment. "Name's Han, this is Chewie. Now I'm not a stranger. Can you talk now?"

"Not supposed to talk at all," he said, curling up tighter into a ball and laying his head on his knees.

"I think your parents are way too busy to notice."

"They aren't my parents, Mister. They're my owners," he said, and Han's heart dropped. Chewie made a low angry growl.

"Easy, Chewie…So what's your name?"

"Kyr."

"Do you know where your parents are?"

"No. Don't remember them. I think I was born a slave. I've been with the Elskians for six months now. They aren't as bad as my last owners. I don't remember much before that."

The economy of words staved of a number of questions, and Han sat back, thinking. Master Mundi would not be happy if something jeopardized their mission, however he'd be even more upset about THIS particular discovery. Beside, his mother-in-law would need a witness if anything permanent was going to be done about this. He looked around quickly and began to formulate a plan. "You in here a lot, kid?"

"Almost every night," Kyr told him, and further conversation was precluded by the return of the Elskians and their friends. Han decided that Sabacc would now help him think, since he had a problem he could actually do something about, rather than something to stew over. He got up, and headed to the back of the bar, realizing as he passed several of the children he'd just thought an oddity when he walked in, were actually slaves. Han decided he would talk to Master Mundi when he got back from the state dinner he was attending. There were decided advantages to being 'just the pilot.'

Chewie barked a question.

"I'm thinking, buddy. I'm thinking."

* * *

**Coruscant, Lower Levels, Emergency Dispatch Center 4077, 39:4:4**

Celia yawned; she'd been up very early that morning, but she didn't actually feel tired. She looked back at the datapad she was holding. She'd been putting off actually writing her report of what had happened the morning she'd arrived. She didn't know if she could accurately put together a plausible excuse for not going after someone when she'd known she could catch him. Besides Jace distracting her by kissing her. She still wasn't sure how she felt about that, but Cedric was gone to Shiava, so other than his initial reaction to poke fun at her, and embarrass her, she had no idea what he really thought of it. The fact that even that much had come out of him was surprising; he'd been so serious in the last year. He had refused to tell her anything about what had happened, but it had turned her mostly-serious-but-teasable brother to an unemotional wooden and stone version of himself who might have looked the same to someone who didn't live with him, but she had known how very hurt he had been, yet she didn't know why. She had talked with his Master, found out that he had been attacked, but she had felt that Cedric needed to tell the details.

Perhaps she would be able to get something out of him when he got back. That thought gave her hope, and she wrote in the space that asked "Reason," 'Possibility of entrapment' and went on with the report.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Tano Quarters, 39:4:4**

Aayla chimed Ahsoka's door. "Come in," she heard, somewhat muffled by the wall and door between them. She opened the door, and found Ahsoka eating breakfast. She had eaten first thing; it helped her get started in the morning, though her Padawan, like Ahsoka, typically ate later on.

"I wanted to talk to you about Leia and Anakin's relationship, and how we can help them fix it."

Ahsoka sighed. "I'm not sure that we can do anything to make the healing go any faster. How much of the story do you know?"

Aayla paused, "Not as much as I'd like. Master Yoda filled me in with a basic outline, but I intended to get the rest from Leia yesterday."

"And?"

She frowned. "I do not think Leia has any interest in telling me. She steered away from it quickly enough yesterday, and somehow we never got back to the topic."

Ahsoka laughed. "Master Skywalker was almost eager to tell me, as if he didn't remind himself of the past, the present would disappear."

"Leia's never been one to hold things in like this."

"Not from ones she trusts, but from what I understand, even if you were alive in her reality, you wouldn't have gotten a chance to know her."

Aayla rubbed her temples. "I know. I think I am forgetting that she is not _my_ Leia, and that while she may understand who I am, she does not feel it." Ahsoka was quiet, munching cheerily on her breakfast as Aayla thought through her understanding of her Padawan. "I've never seen this cold formality to Leia before."

"I haven't either, well, not from her, but I don't think you've ever been in the room when the Chancellor has had to meet someone truly odious. Leia has nothing on her mother."

Aayla relaxed slightly, and contemplated for a while. "I'm trying too hard."

"Perhaps," Ahsoka said with a tilt of her head. "But you can only be who you are, and Leia will relax when she is ready to do so."

"I don't think I've ever felt so lost in my life."

"Well, I think you might have a good handle on what Leia is feeling, then. The only two people she would feel comfortable with have taken off without her, and she probably doesn't even know she's grounded until the babies are born, so she _can't_ go chasing after them if she wanted to."

"I doubt that would be something I should inform her of."

"That she got very, very space sick on the way back from Belsavis, so the Healers won't let her out of the Temple, practically? No, I don't think you want her feeling any more trapped than she already does. Pretend that the transparisteel isn't there since she can't see it."

"You have a strange sense of humor, Ahsoka."

"You always give me such nice compliments, Aayla. We should get together more often," Ahsoka said with a grin. She picked up the dishes from her breakfast and put them in the kitchen sink.

"Come on, it's well past time we should be seeing to our charges."

"And you complain about _my_ sense of humor," Ahsoka said darkly, but Aayla could see the laughter in her eyes, though she had masked it from her voice.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:4**

Padmé stood beside Leia as they did the dishes. Julia had left for school already, and such simple tasks were usually very soothing for most Jedi, and Leia was, in this, like most of the Jedi.

"Would you mind if I came with you to the Senate? I'd really enjoy the chance to see how a real democracy works."

"I would say to ask your Master, but technically you are on medical leave and don't actually have to," Leia couldn't quite contain the sigh of relief. "But if you are doing this to avoid Aayla, that's not very nice of you."

"She hovers, and she worries, and she doesn't know anything about me."

"That doesn't mean you should be avoiding her."

"She pries and is nosy and entirely too cheerful."

"Sounds like someone else I know."

Leia rolled her eyes, "Mother," she hissed.

"Well, at least you have come to terms with your own faults when someone points them out for you."

"I do not pry."

"You are also not the Master of a Padawan. It is much like being a parent, and I'm sure you can remember your father prying into many things you would have gladly kept him out of."

"That's different. Dad…" she trailed off, not knowing quite what to say about her relationship with Bail.

"Are you sure you want to go to the Senate with me?"

"You mean can I keep it together?"

"That is exactly what I mean. Senator Organa has not been informed of what has transpired. No one outside the Temple has."

"I think it will be a relief to get out of the Temple. I'm not absolutely sure that I could handle the Senate, but it's been long enough since I've been there that it won't tear fresh wounds, I don't think."

"Don't be so sure," Padmé said. "You will be in the midst of people who are, in your mind, alive, dead, enemy, friend. History has taken a different course, and you are outside all of it. None of them mean anything to you, because they cannot. You are a Jedi, and they will see that above all else. They will not see Leia, Rebel Princess, or even Leia, daughter of the Chancellor. They will see Jedi Skywalker, and react to you as though that is who you are. As though that is all you are."

Leia was quiet as they finished the dishes and put them away. "I want to go," she said to her mother, quietly.

She shook her head, "Stubborn as always. Well, let's get ready. It shouldn't be long before Aayla is here."

Leia nodded mutely, and Padmé took her back to her quarters, going through her closet quickly and pulling out a particular outfit. "Here, these are your formal robes, not that you probably know the difference, or that many people outside the Temple will be able to tell either." Padmé grabbed a soft blue cloak from among those hanging on the back wall of Leia's closet. "And wear this cloak, it's nice out, so you won't need anything too heavy, but you will need to wear a cloak inside. I'll be ready in a few minutes, but I might need a little help with my hair."

Leia grinned. The hairstyles Padmé had worn as queen were twice as complicated as anything that Leia had ever worn, but this was at least something she was familiar with. "I'll be over in a few minutes."

Padmé nodded and left for her own quarters again.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:4**

Aayla was not sure how to approach her Padawan as she and Ahsoka approached the Skywalker main residence. It was quiet in the hallway, an unusual occurrence, but with Julia and Leia being the only children home right now, it was, at least, understandable. "Well?" Ahsoka asked her as she stood near the main door.

"I should check her quarters," she said, and Ahsoka cocked her head to one side.

"She's already over here," Ahsoka told her.

"Well, that's a beginning. Wait—you can sense her?"

"Yes. Her presence is a bit fuzzier than it normally is, but there's no mistaking her for who she is."

Aayla shook her head, and the two of them headed inside, but there was no one in the common room. "Master?" Ahsoka called out.

"In here, Snips," he said from the bedroom. They approached the room to find a scene that might have been comical under other circumstances, Leia was helping her mother with her hair, and Leia's was already done up much more elaborately than she normally kept it, and she was in her formal robes. Anakin was seated cross-legged on the bed, far enough out of the way that his likely less-than-helpful commentary wouldn't get him smacked.

"Helpful as usual, Master?"

"Of course," he said, looking up from what he was reading.

"Do you know when Master Secura will be here?" Leia asked, turning around as she finished pinning her mother's hair into place. Her eyes locked onto Aayla's and for a sudden, startling moment, the training bond flared into fullness, and then she gave a little cry, and started to fall, unconscious.


	9. A light, a truth

**AN: Thank you all for your patience with this story. As I may have stated previously, I don't remember right now, I am hoping to get work done on _The Necklace_ sometime soon and get a chapter up on it. This chapter decided to spill out of me though, so here it is. **

**In answer to the questions posted: Kyr is not Kyp. Errors should be fixed now. Thank you all for taking the time to let me know what you think. Reviews are invaluable tools to authors in a situation like this, where everything is "live" and possibly has "fatal" errors, etc.**

**I would like to note here that the section about Aayla's past is courtesy of Dark Horse Comics, specifically, John Ostrander, Jan Duursema, Rick Magyer, Steve Dutro, Dave McCaig, Dan Jackson, Dave Stewart, Dan Parsons, Michael David Thomas, Brad Anderson, and David Michael Beck. The storylines are from the comic arcs "Twilight" and "Trackdown."**

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Healer's Hall, 39:4:4**

Anakin had never been one to have much patience, and this was more trying than most things. Leia's state of unconsciousness did not have a physical cause. There was no reason for her to be in this state unless it had something to do with her spirit rejoining her body. It made him afraid, a bit, not for himself, but for her, and for her brother.

"You can see her," Bant told them as she came out of the room that they had put Leia in. "She's resting comfortably."

He was grateful that she was the one taking care of Leia. "Thank you, Bant," he said, and she smiled at him.

"You're welcome, Anakin. She's going to be fine," the Mon Calamari who was Master Healer over the whole of the Temple told him earnestly. He nodded, and walked into the room.

"Why is she laying on her side?" he asked curiously.

"The babies would put too much pressure on one of the main blood vessels to her legs this late in her pregnancy," Padmé told him quietly, having followed him in. Aayla was gone for the moment, talking to Ahsoka because Ahsoka had practically dragged her off by the back of her shirt. He would have to thank her later.

Hours passed as they waited with Leia. Bant came back several times, checking on her but it was always the same. There was not change in her condition, and he and everyone else were starting to get very worried. He flopped into a chair beside her bed after Bant had chased them out so she could examine Leia again, rubbing his face with his hands. "Daddy?" he heard Leia's sleepy voice.

He looked up at his wife, concerned and a little shocked. Leia reached over and put her hand into his, but otherwise didn't move. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

She didn't say anything for a moment, scrunching up her face in concentration. It was adorable, and entirely unlike the stiffly formal Rebel Princess that he'd come to know. "Nothing," she said finally.

"You sure, Leia?" he asked, looking at the hand that she'd curled around his.

"Why am I in the Healer's? I'm not having contractions yet, am I?" she asked finally.

"No, you just fainted."

She wrinkled her brow, concentrating on what he'd said. "I've never fainted before. Jedi don't faint," she growled the last part to his amusement.

"I'm afraid that Jedi can faint just as easily as anyone else," her mother told her. "I think I'll go get Bant now."

"Master Eerin is taking care of me?" she asked, at once incredulous and snapping into full attention.

"She thought it best to look after you herself. You've had a rough couple of days."

"I'm fine," she said, sitting up. She looked determined. "I've just had the strangest dream, though."

"Tell me?" he pleaded.

She rubbed her eyes. "Where do I begin? It is strange on top of strange. I almost feel like I wasn't imagining it, it was so real."

"Well, does it have to do with a certain princess, her farm-boy-brother-turned-Jedi and an evil Sith Lord named Vader?"

She opened and closed her mouth. "Yes," she finally managed. "Master Aayla is home, I want to talk to her."

"She's with Ahsoka right now."

"Probably plotting my punishment," she grumbled.

Padmé came in at that point. "She'll be back here in a moment."

"I'm fine, Mom, really."

"We'll let Bant be the judge of that, alright?"

Leia rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything. Anakin sat down on the edge of the bed, next to Leia. She lifted his arm and snuggled into the crook of it. "I wish…"

"What?"

"Vader was real, wasn't he?"

"Unfortunately."

"I didn't dream the last two days then," she said glumly.

"No," he said. "You have your memories back?"

She nodded, brow frowning in concentration. "It's strange, to remember two lifetimes. I'm your favorite, by the way."

He raised his eyebrow at her. "You're just trying to butter me up."

"I would never," she told him, incensed.

"Somehow, I don't believe that."

She didn't try to contradict him, and by that point, Bant and Padmé were back. "Awake finally, I see," Bant said. "And really, if I were as awful as you seem to think, I doubt Anakin would let me near you."

"I don't need protection from you," she said petulantly. "I just like Master Allie better."

"Well, when she doesn't think she can handle something, then it must be pretty serious, don't you think?"

Leia sighed, sitting up and a bit away from her father. "Alright, you win," she said, submitting to Bant's examination.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Healer's Hall, 39:4:4**

Ahsoka took Aayla aside, hoping that her fears for her Padawan weren't significant enough that she couldn't answer some basic questions. "What happened?"

"I don't know any more than you do," Aayla started to move off back toward where Leia was lying now.

"I want you to step back for a minute and try to think through what just happened."

Aayla took a breath, then another, closing her eyes. "I walked in, and when she looked at me, locked eyes with me, our bond flared."

"Flared how?"

"It was suddenly all the way open, with no warning. She's been totally blocked off since all this started, and it's rather surprising to find that she's recovered her access to the Force so suddenly."

Ahsoka considered this. "She's a Skywalker, what makes you think that anything that happens to Leia is surprising?"

"I suppose you're right. I just wish there were something I could do."

"Aayla, you're starting to sound like a whiny youngling."

She winced. "I am, aren't I?"

"You might consider taking a walk in the Room of a Thousand Fountains to calm yourself," she said, and Aalya nodded. "What's got you so worked up, beyond what's going on with Leia?"

Aayla sighed, and they started to move off toward the turbolift. "Well, when I woke up because I couldn't feel Leia anymore, Quin was there," she said, beginning the tale of what had happened between her and her former Master.

* * *

**New Ralltiir, Landing area, _Suncatcher V, _39:4:4**

Obi-Wan looked over at Jaedrea. They had just landed on New Ralltiir, and the nightmare she'd had on the trip there had made her sullen, more than usual. It was as close as she had ever gotten to the sullen, defensive boy that he had seen in the memories that Anakin had seen fit to share with him of his past—a past, that now, was coming to haunt them.

"Jaedrea?" he asked with concern in his voice.

She looked up after a moment. "I'm fine, Master, really."

He saw the smile she was forcing, and knew that her heart wasn't in it. The dream had rocked the foundations of her world. "I know that you are worried about this warning the Force is showing you, but you must remember that we have work to do, and you cannot let this distract you from your duties."

It was a speech that fell flat most of the time with Anakin, but it had occasionally worked with Jaedrea. She had, after all, been raised in the Temple. It, he could tell, wasn't working today. "What about my duty to my family, to my sister?"

"Jaedrea," he said, getting down on one knee so that he could look into her eyes and she couldn't turn from him, "In the highly unlikely event that what you were seeing does, in some fashion begin to happen, this warning may be enough for you to at least call for help. I don't know what agency someone would use to cause you to lose control of your body, but I can assure you that it would be a rare and unusual circumstance. I think you are focusing too much on what might or might not happen simply because you dreamed it."

"Master, I know that you are worried about me, about this, but I know that something here must be wrong for me to be dreaming this, dreaming so strongly. Daddy used to have dreams like this, didn't he?"

Obi-Wan nodded slowly. "This was as intense as anything I've ever seen your father dream."

"So I need to be doubly alert. I will stay close to you. Don't you think that would be a good idea?"

Obi-Wan smiled. "I think that would be an excellent idea right now, Jaedrea."

She threaded her hand into his as he got up. "We should go meet those people," she said, indicating the presences in the Force that had gathered around the ship with a wave of her hand.

"Agreed."

* * *

**Entering Orbit around Ilum, _Bright Hope Ranger, _39:4:4**

Luke settled in comfortably in the pilot's chair. Hi-ny, the droid that had adopted him in lieu of Artoo-Detoo, wheeled himself up to the Nav Computer, and plugged in, muttering about him having spent all his time in meditation and no time working on any of the maintenance he'd promised to do. He did suppose that he'd done a good deal of meditation in comparison to normal, but he also had quite a number of issues to work through. "Well, we are here," he said to Jasmine as she came into the cockpit with him.

"Did you want me to land, too?" she asked, and he considered.

"I that that would be good. You can do it from the co-pilot's seat."

She nodded. "Ok," she said uncertainly as she settled into the co-pilot's seat. "Not used to it over here though, the sims are all from the pilot's chair."

"True, but while I have cofidence in your flying ablities in calm weather, we don't know what condidtions will be like in the atmosphere, and there's no one down there to tell us what they are, so I'd prefer to have overide ablity," he said, glancing up as Mara came up from the back.

Jasmine looked relieved at this bit of information. "Ok, Master Luke," she said, and set to work.

"Sensors are showing clear weather over the landing site, no wind readings yet, temperture -15 degrees, " Luke said.

"Switching to approach vector four," Jasmine said.

"Why are you doing that?" Luke asked, though he could sense why.

"The Force is telling me the winds are calling for that vector, Master."

"Very good, very good indeed," Luke said, causing Jasmine swell with pride.

"Good job," Mara told Jasmine. "It took me forever to pick up on how to do that."

"In all fairness, Mara, Obi-Wan isn't a natural pilot," Luke commented.

"And how would you know that?" she asked.

"I knew him in the other time-line and he NEVER flew anything in that time, at least not that I ever saw," Luke responded.

"Ah...stranger and stranger," Mara said, shaking her head and the ship plunged into the atmosphere.

"Watch the delta v, Jasmine, not so hot," Luke said.

"But Daddy always lands this fast," she protested.

"That is because he has more flying talent in his pinky than the two of us combined, he's also a little crazy behind the stick, or so Obi-Wan always said," Luke responded.

"Yes, Master."

"Besides, a Jedi doesn't need to be flashy."

"Than why does Daddy do it?"

"Not to impress anyone, I don't think. I still don't know this side of him well, but I think its more of pushing himself more than anything else. That and teasing Obi-Wan when they fly together."

"Teasing is unbecoming of a Jedi," Jasmine chastized, and it sounded like she'd said it or heard it often.

"I'm sure you'll get more agreement than disagreement from that statement, but as long as the teasing isn't hurtful, I personally don't see a problem with it," Luke said.

"Said only in self-defense, beloveded," Mara spoke up as Jasmine eased the ship onto the snow covered landing pad, which was really just a leveled section of the ground near the cave.

"Master Luke isn't a tease," Jasmine protested on his behalf.

"Only because you're too young to be on his target list, Little Bit," Mara said, tousling her hair.

"Is that true?" Jasmine asked Luke.

"I'm sorry, Jasmine, but I can't answer that right now," Luke said.

"Oh...you need to hurry up and get your memory back," Jasmine said, sounding just a little disappointed as she ran through the shut down procedures like a pro. Han would've been impressed, Luke thought.

"Come on, let's get you ready to find your crystal," Luke said, changing the subject.

* * *

**Eriadu, Ship Docking, _Millennium Falcon, _39:4:4**

Han walked slowly toward the _Falcon, _partly from the fact that he'd consumed a bit more alcohol than he'd intended when he had walked into the bar, and partly from the fact that he wasn't sure that he had everything straight in his head as far as what he wanted to say to Master Mundi.

Chewie growled at him. "I'm not going to hurry up, I'm thinking," he answered, wondering how he and Master Mundi could approach this without it interfering with the negotiations. He looked up right about then and found that they were at the ship. He sighed, and lowered the ramp. Chewie went up first, and he followed, raising the ramp after him. Master Mundi was already back, fortunately.

"Hello, Captain Solo."

"Master Mundi."

"Something is weighing on you."

"Yeah," he said, sitting down in the small lounge. Master Mundi waited for him to say more. "There was a kid, several of them actually, at the bar I went to tonight."

"Children are permitted in establishments that serve alcohol here?"

"I thought it was pretty strange, too. I talked to him while the other people he was with met some people at the door and left the boy behind at a table near me. He wasn't just someone's kid, though. He was a slave."

"This is not good," Master Mundi sighed, and leaned back in his chair, thinking. "Slaves are not permitted in the Republic. Open slavery is in direct defiance to the order and spirit of the Republic."

Han looked down, hoping that this wouldn't mean he would miss the birth of his children, but was afraid that it would mean exactly that. He didn't want to be gone that long, but if that was what it took to stop people from owning slaves on this planet, he would do it. This was the capital city of the Seswenna sector, for Force's sake. If that was happening here, what else was going on in the sector that they didn't know about? "Are there any other teams in sector?"

"That I know about, two, off the top of my head. Shaak Ti and Cedric Skywalker, and Surri Zena and Kaelli Fel."

Han nodded. "We should contact them to be on the lookout for this or worse."

I will make mention of it to both of them. Master Ti is scheduled to be on Shiava sometime tomorrow. I will make contact with her when I am finished for the day. Jedi Zena should be available now, and if not her, Fel should."

"Kaelli's a good pilot," Han commented absently. An empty hole was starting to grow where he was almost certain that he would be still on Eriadu when the twins were born. He hadn't even talked seriously with Leia about names yet; he had hoped there would still be time when he got home.

"Do not worry, Captain Solo. The Force is kind to us all if we do its bidding. I think that we will be able to find a replacement for you if this drags on for very long."

"Thanks. As much as it pains me to say so, I think that I must remain here to see this through. Leia understands. At least, I hope she will understand how important this is."

"We will see where this leads us before we make a decision about what to do. I remember when my first daughter was born. We will do everything we can to get you home," Master Mundi promised.

* * *

**En route to Shiava, _Valenthyne Farfalla, _39:4:4**

Cedric looked over the raw data that they had gotten back from the Temple's database, and started chewing on his lip absently. What he was seeing wasn't good. He set up a simple charting program, and ran the data through the program, sending the display to the holograph table in the main lounge. "What do you have so far?"

"This isn't good, but it's odd, you know," he said, indicating the chart. The fifty years that they had pulled data for each had a percentage bar for the various mission types, and there were a number of different types. "The percentage of missions that are treaty negotiations are fairly stable," he said with a frown.

She lifted her eyebrow. "So, that is not worrisome, is it?"

"Well, that only tells a small part of the story. The number of missions here," he indicated the first bar on his chart, "Through the Massacre at the Senate are fairly stable. The number of missions doesn't vary significantly, and the percentage of missions assigned doesn't change all that much either."

"Well, that is rather what we were expecting, was it not?"

"Yes; the number of Jedi in the Temples for those 14 years is fairly stable as well, hovering just about 50,000 actively available, so availability of Jedi is not statistically different," he said. He frowned at the next two bars. "The next two years after that, I'm sure you know much better than I do, were spent in very heavy turmoil, both inside and outside the Temple. The number of missions that Jedi went on went down, even though the numbers for Jedi that were available for missions were up slightly from the year before for both years. We aren't talking a lot, but it was significant in being a larger increase in the number of Jedi than there had been in any of the previous 14 years. At the end of Year 4, there were about 51,000 Jedi and teams available for missions."

"Do you have a reason that you think that happened?"

He shook his head, "Part of it was a lower death rate for Jedi on missions, but part of it seems like it was also a legitimate increase in recruitment. I don't have the data I would need to answer why there was an increase in the number of active and available Jedi those years."

"So what happened to the number of negotiations those two years?"

"That's the weird thing—there weren't many. Where there had consistently been about a 10 percent ratio of missions, there were in both years put together, a total of about a hundred missions that were trade negotiations."

"Can you extrapolate why?"

"A little. There was a significant drop in missions in general—the Jedi were staying close to home—so only about half the number of missions that were assigned in Year 2 were assigned in Years 3 and 4. There were also a number of missions that were much more urgent as well. Leadership crises, insurrections, really crazy stuff."

"I remember that time. It was a hard time for all Jedi. We were trying to make our transition while the galaxy at large was frightened by what had happened at the Senate. They didn't believe, in a number of cases, that what had happened in the Senate wouldn't happen to them. No matter what we told some people, they didn't believe that it was an isolated incident."

"Then, the ratio went back to ten percent," Cedric said. "It looks like life went mostly back to normal after that. There were a small number of reported Darth Maul sightings that were investigated, but for the most part, the data here," he indicated the bar that corresponded to Year 5, "Is pretty much identical to the data here, but there are a few more Jedi; it's up to 51,700 that are mission-ready," he indicated the bar representing Year 2.

"So back to business as usual?"

He nodded. "There are more Jedi available each year from this point forward, and there are a small-but-growing number of Sith sightings that are reported to the Council. These two things actually kind of keep pace with one another, so up to this point," he said, indicating Year 10, "The increase in the number of Jedi really doesn't have an impact on the galaxy."

"What happens then?"

"Year 10? That was when the largest number of Padawans to be taken by Knights and Masters in years happened, and I think that was fueled by a large number of Padawans being knighted. If we had taken a bit more data, I might be able to see a cycle, but I doubt it. I think it just happened that way. So the number of available Jedi went up, and that should have had an impact on the percentage of missions that involved trade disputes."

"I agree, Padawan, it should have."

"It didn't."

"Did the number of missions change significantly as well?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, it did. There was about a ten percent increase over the year previous of the number of assigned missions, but trade negotiations went up by ten percent as well."

"What about the other missions assigned?"

"Most of the categories stayed relatively unchanged as far as the raw number of missions assigned, except there were more recruitment missions. There were also more Jedi assigned as Watchmen."

"And more Sith chasing?"

"Yes. There also started to be a broader range of missions assigned then, stuff that was more on the peace-and-security-of-the-galaxy end of things rather than the stop-gap measures that we'd been doing for so long that we thought that was how it was supposed to be."

Shaak Ti nodded. "Well, that is a little surprising, that just when we have more Jedi available, more trade negotiations need hammered out."

"That isn't the worst of it. It keeps happening. The jump in available Jedi isn't as big for Year 11, but trade negotiations keep pace with it. It isn't until Year 20 that the increase in the number of trade negotiation missions tapers off in relation to the number of missions assigned. Only reason that I can think of that is the explosion of available Jedi started to eat into what was happening far faster than what Maul could do to stir up trouble. He is, after all, only one being."

"So that is your theory, that he was fomenting dissention and the Jedi are finally starting to number to the point that he can't keep us as busy?"

"Well I think that there are several factors. I didn't ask for the records of missions that were turned down for Jedi assistance. I bet those are significantly decreased or eliminated now. I think that was part of what was going on. The Republic has what, 20, 30 million planets?"

"I don't know that anyone but a true bureaucrat would know," she agreed.

"And most if not all of those planets have at least one trade agreement with another planet. Some of the major planets have thousands. Of course, that may be the only agreement between the other party and anyone, but still, I'm sure that the Council has had to take a hard look at the requests that they get for assistance, and decide which planet is in more desperate need of assistance. That may be why it takes until Year 20 for the percentage of missions that were trade negotiations to go down. I don't know if the Council still has to prune down legitimate-but-not-critical requests. I imagine that they do."

"Yes, there are still times when the Council turns away requests for assistance because there are no Jedi to send and it's not deemed critical. We do attempt to find assistance from one of the other Temples if it's only because there are no available Jedi. It is difficult to ensure that Jedi get a balance of home and away time."

"Yes, but having 152,000 Jedi and teams available makes it easier, instead of the 51,000 that were available 35 years ago."

"Yes, Padawan, that does help," she said, ruffling his short hair, smiling and pulling him into a hug. He absently allowed her the physical affections, and continued explaining what the data had told him, and what questions it raised that he thought could or could not be answered with further data.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Tano Quarters, 39:4:4**

Ahsoka walked into the door of her quarters, and Aayla followed her. "Did you want some caf or something?"

"No, what I want is to get back to Leia."

"There is nothing that we can do by being there. I think that both of us will be in the way to some extent until she wakes up. Master Skywalker will contact us when she wakes up," she said, as she made herself a cup of caf. Aayla paced around in her common room while Ahsoka did this.

"Why do you think that we will be in the way?"

She finished making the cup of caf before she answered. "Well," she said, coming out of the kitchen, "I, for one, know that when there are people hovering over you in the Healer's, it tends to make them cranky. I've never been able to convince Master Skywalker not to hover, and I don't think that he's going to suddenly wise up at this late date. You, on the other hand, are projecting enough fear and other bad emotions to overwhelm a bantha herd, and for the life of me, I can't think why. This problem with Leia is disconcerting, yes, but if this is the path the Force has chosen for her, who are we to stop it?"

"I haven't had to deal with anything like this with Leia before. She's been a nearly perfect Padawan."

Ahsoka chuckled as she sat in the armchair on one end of the common room. "Somehow, I doubt that. Leia is strong-willed, stubborn, sure that she's right, and ready to fly into danger heedless of the consequences. In short, she is a Skywalker."

"Yes, but she also listens, is a very caring friend, and she does understand that while some of the things she does are dangerous, but it will be more dangerous for them not to be done."

"And that hasn't changed. She's still Leia."

"She's a frightened little mouse."

"So are you."

Aayla frowned at her. "What are you saying?"

"Something's going on with you. You are scared to death. You have, up to now, been able to hide it, but Leia's unexplained fainting spell this morning has you more than worried, it has you scared. Sit, we need to talk."

Aayla sat, but it looked like it was killing her to do it. "What do you want to talk about?"

"You aren't going to be able to help Leia until you have yourself figured out, so, I need you to tell me what has you so scared."

Aayla sat for at least a full minute while Ahsoka sipped her caf impassively. "It happened when I was a Padawan," she admitted quietly.

"What happened? Remember, I was only a little thing, and not even at the Temple when you were knighted."

"What's happening with Leia. Something similar happened to me. Not the time travelling, of course," she said quickly, dismissing that part with a wave of her hand, "But the memory loss, the lack of being able to consciously access the Force."

"What happened?"

"Even now I don't remember all of it. We were investigating reports of a new type of spice, something dangerous."

"We who?"

"I was, and my Master, Quinlan Vos," Aayla said, and Ahsoka nodded. "We went to Tatooine to investigate, and I still really don't remember what happened while we were there. We were both given high doses of glitteryll, the drug that we'd been sent to investigate. I was sent to Ryloth, while Quin was taken to Nar Shaddaa. Both of us completely lost all memory of our lives up to that point. I was taken in by my uncle, Pol Secura, and he told me that I was a dancer. With the grace, poise and balance that are necessary to be a Jedi, I was able to perform very well as a dancer. I remember the dancing, and the wondering why I didn't remember anything other than that. I could feel that there was something more, someone more, out there, if I could only remember, but my uncle took very good care of me, even more than the other dancers. I asked him once why I couldn't remember, and he told me the truth; someone had given me an overdose of glitteryll, and it had taken my memory. I knew he knew more, but not how."

Aayla was quiet for a while. "So, what happened next? It's obvious something did, or you would still be a dancer under your uncle's care."

She nodded. "Quin came, gave me my lightsaber, told me who I was. I didn't believe him; I think the only thing that gave him his memories back was his psychometry."

"Psychometry? I'm sorry, I'm not familiar enough with Master Vos to know that word."

"Oh, I forget how rare that power is. He can see the memories of objects. I believe it is mostly limited to Kiffar, but Luke and Leia can do it sometimes, but mostly with each other. It may be a function of their twin bond; I'm really not sure."

"Alright. I think that may be something that Master Skywalker can do as well. It seems like a function of their high Force sensitivity, though the twin-bond idea has its merits."

"So, he was able to read into his lightsaber, and he somehow found mine, and began to recover his memories that way. The Council frowned upon the way he relied upon his power, they thought that because of the intense emotions he could feel from objects, that it could drive him to the dark side. The memory loss, the glitteryll, and then using his psychometry extensively did actually send him very close to the dark side," Aayla said, curling her knees up under her chin as she spoke. "He found me, told me who I was, what I was. He gave me my lightsaber, but I have absolutely no talent with reading objects; it told me nothing, which frustrated him; when my uncle interrupted, Quin threw Force Lightning at him. I reacted out of instinct, and Force-pushed them both off the balcony. We were on the fourth, fifth floor. Quin survived; Pol didn't. Quin came back later to try to talk sense into me. I didn't even understand the words he was saying. Jedi, Knight, Padawan. He was telling me that this was who I was, but I didn't know even the words he was using to tell me."

"Did you believe him?"

"No. He had killed my uncle; the one person in the world that I thought I could count on. I realize now that he was continuing to feed me glitteryll, which kept my memory from returning, though he wasn't giving me enough at that point to actually take any more of my memory. I went to Kiffex, and Quin followed me with his Master, Tholme. I encountered a man named Volfe Karkko there; he was a prisoner. I released him. He turned out to be a dark Jedi and an Anzati."

"Anzati are very rare."

"Well, there is a reason for that. They are very long-lived. I do not know how long. I think they do not have the same drive to reproduce that most beings feel. Especially humans," she smiled, but it disappeared quickly. Ahsoka was wondering now if this had been a good idea, but it seemed to be helping, at least to a limited degree. "Some of the things that Karkko told me make me think he actually saw the New Sith Wars, at least part of them. I wanted revenge on the man I thought responsible for killing Uncle Pol, and Karkko was more than willing to help. He assembled an army of Anzati, and with me, we raided the place where Quin was. There were other Jedi there with him, but he came to me alone. I was filled with anger, darkness, because of what I didn't know, and what Karkko was influencing me to do. I used Karkko's lightsaber to battle my Master, my own Master, and all Quin wanted was for me to stop and think for a minute, use my head, and stop fighting. Finally he got sick of it, shut off his lightsaber and refused to fight me anymore. That more than anything got me to do what he was wanting. I started thinking, but it was only for a moment; Karkko turned on me, struck me down with Force Lightning, and engaged in a battle with Quin."

"Well, it seems that Master Vos won that fight, as he is around and Karkko is not."

Aayla nodded, and laid her head onto her knees as she prepared to go on with the remainder of her story. "Yes, Quin won with the aid of the other Jedi who were there. Zao was one of the Jedi who was there that day, and he convinced Quin to follow him in his way with the Force; traveling where the Force tells you to go, not answering to anyone. He did that for a while, as he regained his memory. Master Tholme helped me to regain my memory and complete my training, but I came to Coruscant for a time, and Master Koon helped me to arrange my memories into coherence.

"Quin is at least in contact with the Council regularly now, and he takes some missions from them. He did come to Askaj to help with the clean-up there while I came here. It is going to be a long time before that planet is back to what it was, if it ever gets there."

"I don't believe I know a Master Tholme, either," Ahsoka said with a slight frown.

"He was, well, still is, Jedi Watchman for the Azurbani system—Kiffu and Kiffex."

"So, you regained your memory with Master Tholme, and eventually made your way to the Temple?"

"Yes. Well there was more to it than that. The Temple assigned us to clean up the mess made when Uncle Pol died."

"You did so."

"Yes, but not without considerable difficulty. I ended up tracking down Quin instead of Master Tholme, and together we found him; he had snuck aboard a vessel that was carrying my cousin, who had been kidnapped. We eventually tracked everyone down, and everything was alright, but it was hard working with Quin, when only a short time before, I had been angry enough with him to kill him."

Ahsoka was unsure how to feel about all that Aayla had revealed to her. She and her Master had been through a lot together, and they didn't know exactly how to relate any longer, considering all of those changes in their lives. All that they had gone through together.

Now Leia's amnesia was stirring up those dark memories , things she'd thought buried. They weren't dead, those memories, though. The time that she had spent under the effects of glitteryll given to her by her uncle had affected her more deeply than the Mind Healers at the time had realized. It would be up to her to help her fellow Jedi through the healing that should have been accomplished long ago, but hadn't been.

"You can't help Leia with her problems until you first admit that this is a problem for you," Ahsoka said finally.

"I am her Master," Aayla said. "I am supposed to be strong for her. I am supposed to make things right for her."

"This is interfering with your ability to interact with her on any level, though," Ahsoka said. "You couldn't even sense where she was this morning."

Aayla was quiet for a few minutes. "You are right. Why can't I think straight about this?"

"That's what we need to figure out. Then we can help Leia."

"I need to be there with her."

"Master Skywalker is there. She will be fine," Ahsoka assured her. "She's been warming up around him more."

Aayla nodded, distracted by her own internal monologue. "We never really found out who was behind it all. After Pol died, there wasn't much of a trail as to who would have wanted this done. Eventually we just gave up, but there was never really closure for either of us."

"I understand," Ahsoka said, "This will take time, but I can work through this with you. With Quin, too. From what you've told me, I think both of you need time to talk about this, with each other, and separately."

"It was such a long time ago. I was still a Padawan. I thought this was dealt with, over."

"Perhaps it would not have come up if you hadn't been on the receiving end of what it sounds like happened to your Master. Seeing Quin stirred things up, then you come here, and what's going on is much like what happened to you, minus the drugs. No one can guarantee that Leia will ever remember you, which is a scary thought, I admit. She may have to start over from the very beginning of her training, not Padawan-level, but below even Initiate-level work. On top of that, she is opinionated and stubborn, and doesn't even know if she actually wants to be a Jedi any longer."

Aayla visibly swallowed. "It's hard," she said finally. Ahsoka nodded encouragingly. "But suppressing what is happening to me isn't going to help Leia, is it?"

"No, as a matter of fact, I think it will detract from whatever relationship you could be forming with her."

She looked a little rattled. "I don't know how to form a new relationship with someone that I've literally known their whole life."

"She may look like the Leia that you've known your whole life, but trust me, she's not. She had a different life. Maybe if you think of her as a lost twin that would help."

Aayla giggled. "But she hasn't lost her twin."

"You know what I mean," Ahsoka said. "Come on, it's time to go see our little Rebel Princess." Aayla looked at her quizzically. "She's awake. Are you sure that the block you're experiencing is on her end?"

"Not entirely. After what happened this morning, I think perhaps I blocked her out, thinking that I might cause her more harm."

Ahsoka thought for a moment. "I don't think you did her harm in the first place. When Master Eerin says she doesn't know, it means exactly that. There is no explanation. Which means that any problems with bonds that are known to exist would have been thoroughly checked out before she said she didn't know."

"I hope you are right, Ahsoka. I suppose that I should have talked to someone long before this, though."

"It's alright. We all have our failings. It's only natural. The trick is, when someone points out one of yours, to work on it until it is no longer a problem."

* * *

**Ilum, Crystal Caverns, 39:4:4**

Jasmine took a few tentative steps into the cavern on Ilum. It was strange, because Luke and Mara had insisted that she would do this better if she went alone. She'd never been away from any of her family, not really. At least one of her sisters was almost always with her. Even when they went to the Room of a Thousand Fountains, one of them would go with her. Now, she was on a planet with only two other people, and they were back on the ship. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was massively quiet. Tears came to her eyes, unbidden; this place made her feel so alone. She sank to her knees, overcome with despair. She wept at the mouth of the cave. _I can't do this. I'm not good enough. I'm not worthy._

"_There was a time I felt the same way."_

She opened her eyes to an ethereal woman facing her. She was dressed in a very old style of Jedi Robes, and reminded her a little bit of Mara, but not quite as pretty. "Who are you?"

"_I am Nomi Sunrider, Jedi Master."_

"I've heard of you. You're one of the greatest Jedi from that age!"

"_Hmmm. I never really thought so. Master Thon was much wiser and more powerful than I ever was."_

She giggled, "I think the same thing about Luke."

"_And he thinks the same of Qui-Gon."_

"Do you really think so?"

"_Of course. You will learn in time, Jasmine Skywalker, that most truly competent people have doubts of their own abilities, where as the truly confident are usually boobs."_

Jasmine giggled again. "So what I'm feeling is normal?"

"_Doubt is a part of life. You cannot let it overwhelm you; like all emotion, acknowledge it, gain wisdom from it, and release it."_

"So what should I do now?"

"_Know that you already do."_ The ghost said as she faded out.

Jasmine set her shoulders with new determination, and went deeper into the cave, letting the Force guide her steps. Once she'd actually gotten inside, she started to hear soft voices murmuring in the background. Yet, that wasn't quite an accurate description, since they weren't voices, and they weren't saying anything. It was more like she was hearing emotions, tiny and indefinite. Her feet took her to the center of a cavern deep within the cave system. There she knelt, closed her eyes and searched with the Force. It did not take very long for her to notice that one particular crystal glowed more brightly in the Force than any of the others. Unfortunately for the slight girl, it was in the middle of the ceiling.

She considered the situation. The crystal itself was about the size of Luke's lightsaber hilt. That could be a problem, but one she could consider once she got it down. The other problem was that it was mostly buried in the ceiling, with only the barest point sticking out. She supposed that she could just break the tip off, as that would be the perfect size for a crystal, but that solution just felt wrong to her, as though she were considering kicking a Tooke. The only solution that sounded right was to remove the entire crystal without damaging it. She initially considered using the Force to pull it to her, but the risk of damaging it was too high. Another thought that came to her was removing the surrounding rock from the crystal, and she actually made an attempt to do that, only to discover that the level of concentration needed to do a proper job of it was simply too taxing for her.

When the solution came to her, she'd already been at the task for two hours. She produced a buffer zone of rock around her crystal, removing the rock surrounding it without worry of damaging her precious crystal. It was a lot easier because she could remove larger quantities of material from each point. She was able to, after considerable work, see that her crystal, in its rocky cocoon, was only hanging by a tiny thread of rock. She walked over under her crystal, to her pile of rock, and broke the last piece with the Force, and reached out to it with the Force, drawing it into her hand. It landed with an audible slap against her palm, and she moved to the ready position. Her thumb moved across a space where there should have been a button, and felt mild surprise that it didn't ignite into a blade. She realized that this would only be the first part of her task, but it felt so right. She only had to form it, and this would be her Lightsaber for the rest of her life.

* * *

**Camaas, Jedi Temple, Vehicle Storage, 39:4:4**

Liz was calmer than she had been the day before. The Stryders had been hospitable, but now was the time for her to make a lasting impression on the family as to what a Jedi from Coruscant would be like. She cared deeply for her family, and they needed to see that aspect highlighted more than anything else. Showing that Jedi knew how to care for one another would be critical to recruiting this youngling.

"Ready for another day?" Master Aloun asked her as they headed out to the speeder that they would take out to the Stryder homestead.

"Yes."

"Sure of ourselves today, are we?"

"I think I understand what is holding the Stryders back; they see the outside of a Jedi but not the inside, and don't want their son to turn into a stoic, taciturn, unfeeling symbol or a wild, rampaging, lightsaber-wielding menace."

"Well, I don't think anyone wants a Jedi to turn into that."

"But we do, all the time. It's a rare occasion for someone to actually see a Jedi in person, so most people's perception of what a Jedi is comes in two varieties."

Master Aloun frowned at her. "And those varieties would be?"

"Dad and Uncle Obi-Wan."

"Your father is not the ideal for a Jedi."

"No, but he's photogenic and is always doing something outlandish. He makes a good holostory. I wouldn't be surprised if there were stories about him whenever he sets foot outside the Temple."

"And why would Master Kenobi be the only other perception that they have?"

"The beings that are smart enough to realize that Dad is something special or extraordinary, look to the nearest source of information about the Jedi, namely the Master of the extraordinary Jedi in question."

"I have met Master Kenobi on several occasions, and he is not unfeeling, taciturn, or stoic."

"Around other Jedi, but when he is on a mission, he can't afford to be otherwise, especially if he's running about with Dad."

"I had not thought about the perception of those outside the Temples, especially with the changes that were initiated with the Massacre in the Senate."

"Yes. I think most people would be shocked beyond belief that Uncle Obi-Wan comes home to a loving wife, three children and two grandchildren."

"I'm actually a little surprised at that. I knew he was married; a fair number of those on Coruscant are, but not about his children and especially not about his grandchildren."

"Leia and Mara are both pregnant; Dad's going to out-do him in grandchildren soon. Of course, neither Dak-Tin nor Fel-Gin are married, so it may even out sometime soon."

"Mara is?"

"Luke's wife. Found out about Mara expecting the day I left home."

Master Aloun nodded. "Are there any other clans on Coruscant into their second generation?"

She thought for a moment; she would really be one of the few beings to know, but she couldn't think of anyone. "No," she said with a shake of her head, "Not that I can thing of. Well, Mara, of course, was born in the Temple, but that just means this child will be second generation on both sides."

"What about your sister's husband?"

"Temple pilot, like Mara's father."

"What about Obi-Wan's brood?"

She shook her head. "J. K. was a from-birth initiate in the old style."

"Do you know if there are any other second generation Initiates running around?"

She shook her head after a moment's thought as to what she had heard from and about the other Temples. "I think that Olisa is the only one. Kennis is only two."

"Well, it sounds like you should reassure them as to the nature of Obi-Wan Kenobi as a family man."

She smiled. "I certainly hope that I can."

"There is also the matter of the Coruscanti Temple having the reputation for being the most martial."

"Perhaps that will serve Jydan well. Perhaps being from Coruscant will help convince people that he is not someone to be fought."

"Most who try such a thing end up on the wrong end of a blaster."

"Uncle Obi-Wan rarely fights."

"No, not with your father around to do it for him."

"He doesn't anyway. He's a Soresu Master, after all."

"Hmmm," Master Aloun frowned. "I thought he was trained in The Way of the Hawk-Bat, as was his Master."

"I would have to ask, but from some of what Dad says, he's pretty much always used Soresu."

"I wonder why?"

"I don't know, but we are here now, so let's go see how much we can get done today."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, landing area, _Lightbringer, _39:4:4**

It was late in the day when Siri Kenobi settled the ship onto the landing pad. "Master Kenobi, while this was a most entertaining adventure, I will take my leave of you now."

She regarded Ash for a moment. "You should go see Master Yoda before you seek out your Master. I am sure he will have some questions for you."

"Perhaps he will have answers as well," the young Kel Dor said with a bow, and then he left.

"I would like to go find my Master, do I need to see Master Yoda as well?" asked the young wide-eyed Nautolan.

"I don't believe that Master Yoda needs to speak with you right now, Nadina. You are free to go find Ahsoka."

"Thank you," she said, bowing to Siri, and then she went off in search of her own Master.

"Obi-Wan, where did you run off to in the two days I was gone?" she wondered to herself as she picked up her things and headed out as well. When she arrived in her quarters, she found a note from her husband. "New Ralltiir?" she asked as she scanned the note quickly.

She sighed, leaving her things to unpack later, then went to see her daughter.

* * *

**Ilum, Landing area, _Bright Hope Ranger,_ 39:4:4**

Luke double-checked Jasmine's snowsuit, and, satisfied, he stood up. "You are as ready to go as I can make you," he said.

"Finally," Jasmine agreed, a little put out, "Why are you so wound up about this anyway?"

"Well," he said, thinking fast, "I was raised on Tatooine, and if you can avoid taking chances with something, you do."

"Oh," she said, and worked through the reasonableness of the idea, then nodded. "This means I actually get to leave the ship, though, right?" she huffed at him, and he tried not to smile.

"Yes, Little Bit," he said after a moment, putting his hand on her shoulder and pressing the button that would open the ramp. She hurried down the ramp and into the caves, while he crouched down so that he could see her as she made her way across the snowdrifts that piled up in mid-winter on Ilum.

"If she catches you, you'll never hear the end of it, you know," Mara said to him, her arms crossed as she watched from less than a meter down the hall, amused.

"I've never done this; I'm sure she will understand."

"Understand, perhaps, leave you be about it, I doubt, especially considering you just told her that teasing wasn't going to get her kicked out of the Temple," she said, then turned serious. "You are really worried."

"Well, the only experience I've ever had with cold weather was on Hoth."

"Hmmm," she considered "Wampas?"

"Yeah, I was attacked and nearly eaten by one."

"They are pretty nasty one-on-one."

"Which was my problem. I was investigating something crashing into the area around the base, and it attacked me from behind, and trapped me in the ice in its cavern. How do you know about Hoth, anyway?"

"I went there a few times, helping with your little slave ring bust that you and your father were busy with about a year ago. That little escapade earned you your own nickname."

"Really?"

"Yes. Master Obi-Wan is the Negotiator, your father is the Hero with No Fear, and you, my love, at least according to the media, are the Liberator."

He was still staring after Jasmine, tracing her progress through the Force, but the media's moniker for his father amused him. "You know, I think Dad would hate being called that."

"Oh, he does, but he tolerates it because there are worse things that they call him if they are being nasty."

"Like what?"

"The Chancellor's personal sperm bank," she told him, and he felt her go a little cold with anger.

"That is very crass," he said with a bemused look, looking up at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Aren't we just the master of understatement today?" she asked, and then, before he could answer, like a summer storm, the anger was gone, replaced with annoyance. "Are you going to sit there all day? There really isn't anything as dangerous as a Wampa on Ilum. Gorgodons are pretty rare this high up, and every Initiate has lessons on how to deal with them."

He stood, brushing his hands and closed the ramp. "Satisfied?"

"No, but then I never have been that," she told him, then sighed as her attention turned to something else. "You know, Master Obi-Wan told me a story that scared me to death the first time I came out here," she said, linking her arm in his as they made their way back to the galley.

"Really?"

"Sure. It was about your father, who awed me just a little anyway, back then at least, so I couldn't imagine him having been young enough to have been coming out here."

"So what was this story?" he asked, sitting down.

She sat across from him, "Well, the first time your father came out here, and he was out here a number of times before he was Knighted. He was constantly losing his lightsaber or damaging it beyond repair. But the first time, he encountered a strange ghost. Most of us encounter good spirits, or spirits who test us, and very few of us encounter something touched with darkness. Anakin had spent a year in training with Master Obi-Wan before he was allowed to come to Ilum, before his lightsaber training and theory was sufficient for him to attempt his first lightsaber."

"Because he knew nothing of the Force when he came to Coruscant."

"Right, and that was when he was nine, so he was ten when he came to Ilum. I was the same age, and I think that was why Master Obi-Wan thought the story appropriate for me."

"He went into the caves, alone, like Jasmine is doing?"

"Yes, and he encountered a man who's face had been severely damaged in some way. His face had become this mass of wrinkles, scars of some kind."

Luke shuddered, imagining the Emperor's face when he had faced off with the two Sith aboard the Death Star. "I know what you're talking about."

She looked hard at him, but he didn't flinch again, so she continued. "So, he seemed really familiar with Anakin, his history, his apprenticeship, everything, but Anakin could tell that he was a bad spirit, and it took him some time to find the courage to face the spirit. It couldn't hurt Anakin, but he didn't know that at the time. It was very persuasive, from the sound of it."

"Yes, I understand all too well the persuasiveness of Darth Sidious," he told her.

"Sidious? I'm not sure I am familiar with that name."

"Palpatine," Luke said. "That was Senator Palpatine's Sith name."

"Oh," she said, sitting back.

"Does everyone speak with someone?"

"So far as I know."

"Who did you speak with?"

She sighed. "I spent a couple of days speaking with a Jedi by the name of Ulic Qel-Droma. He told me a lot of things that I really didn't understand at the time, but I'm starting to. I don't like talking much about it."

Luke nodded. "Who did I speak with?"

"Teroc Vel-Adyr."

"Who was he?"

"He was Master Yoda's first Padawan."

"I'm sure that was an interesting conversation."

"I'm sure you will remember it, Luke, you sounded like you had a lot of respect for him, and I think he showed you another perspective on things," she said, laying her hand over his, "I think you learned a great deal more from your first trip to Ilum than your father did. And you are far more patient than your father is."

He chuckled over that. "I know, and he can be quite single-minded, though sometimes that's more of a hindrance than a help."

"I think the Council tends to take that into consideration."

"Well, considering he's a member of the Council, I would hope so."

"Yes, but he hasn't always been. You were eight or nine when he was appointed to the Council, so he was…thirty-two, I think. And there were still grumblings that he was too young to be given that sort of responsibility."

"What about this?" he asked, meaning their inability to remember the current present.

"I'm sure that there were grumblings about this possibility, though I don't know. It wasn't enough to sway the Council, at any rate. He was given membership fairly soon after he had become a Master, and there was outside pressure to do it, but I don't know what difference that might have made to the Council."

Luke nodded, knowing that being on the Jedi Council required some level of political understanding, and that there were many unsuited to that task. Personally, he felt that his father was one of those people, but perhaps some of the innate understanding of the political system had filtered through his mother to his father.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:4**

Celia walked into the quarters that she shared with her parents and most of her siblings. It had been a tiring couple of days, and a bit stressful, because of Cedric showing up, telling her that he would be leaving shortly. Truthfully, though, she hadn't thought much about Cedric since she'd told him good-bye the morning before.

She had been too busy trying to figure out what to do about Jace. He hadn't really said much after Cedric had caught them together. He'd asked what Cedric had wanted, and she'd told him. It had been slightly awkward around him after that, though he'd kissed her good-bye before she had left. "Hello," Julia said to her, looking up from where she had sprawled out on the common room floor. There were a number of data discs and pads laying around her, and Celia determined that she was doing her homework, or at least trying to make it look like that was what she was doing.

"Hey," she answered, looking around. "Anyone else home?"

Julia shook her head. "Nope. I don't know where Mom and Dad are, and Leia's not in her quarters either."

"Ok," Celia said, mentally determining where everyone should be. "Jasmine?"

"She took off with Luke and Mara because things got really weird around her, remember?" Celia nodded and Julia continued. "And Luke asked Master Windu if he could take her on as his Padawan, and Master Windu said yes."

Ok," she said, shaking her head, confused. "Ilum?" she asked and Julia nodded. "Jaedrea?"

"Mission somewhere."

"Wow. So it's us just and Leia home right now?"

"Yep. I was thinking since Mom and Dad aren't home, I would go over to Master Tiin's and eat soon. I think Mom can talk Dad into cooking for her if she gets hungry."

Celia laughed. "Why is she in the Temple? Shouldn't she be at Senate?"

Julia shrugged. "You are asking me, why?"

Celia rolled her eyes. "You are so willfully blind. I don't know how Mom lets you get away with it."

"She has to. I really don't understand a word of politics. You remember the time she tried to teach me over the summer—that summer that Leia almost blew up Grandma Jo's whole house because Dad was convinced that he could teach her to cook?"

"Yes, and you fell asleep at nine in the morning, and she didn't realize it for about ten minutes 'til you started snoring?"

"Sure did," Julia agreed, unrepentant.

"Still," Celia frowned, "It's strange that she's not at the Senate."

Julia shrugged and went back to her homework, and Celia decided it would be a good idea for her to get started on her own homework.


	10. Chapter 9: Two

**AN:Sword Slinger:As you have suggested, Anakin has something "physical" to do, though, honestly, it was already written by the time your suggestion came in. As for some manifestation of his time as Vader, I will have to think on it; I have some ideas as to what's going on in chapter 10, and something satisfactory may come up there. Hints are starting in this chapter. Debilitating? I don't know, we will see. **

**Thank you to everyone else who reviewed! If you are still reading my other stories, I have not abandoned them, they are just on extended hiatus, as in this is the only story for which my muse is currently talking to me.**

* * *

Chapter 9

**

* * *

Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:4**

Ash walked into the quarters that he had shared with his Master and his Master's family for ten years. The quarters that he had previously shared with two of his clanmates until they both had married. There was no one in the common room, so he dropped the bag of clothes that he had taken to Garos on the floor next to the door to his room, and he straightened his robes. He did it out of nervous habit, especially when he was going to be seeing Master Yoda.

Master Yoda had retired from active teaching after the last of Boma Clan had taken their steps into Padawanship. It had been a sad time for all of them, especially for him and Leia, as they had been the last two initiates in the class. They had taken classes from Master Yoda for nearly a year, just the two of them. It had been a special time that he remembered fondly, but Master Yoda had retreated further and further from active Jedi life over the last ten years. The last thing had been when he had retired from the Council last year; he'd moved in very close to the quarters Ash shared with his Master. The significance of that was not lost on Ash. He was there to keep an eye on Anakin, who had always had a penchant for getting into trouble.

Even when Ash had become his Padawan and he had already completed Ahsoka's training, Anakin still got into more trouble than any ten other Masters did in the whole of the Order combined.

Ash sighed as he exited his quarters, and looked both ways down the hallway, but there was no one around. It would have been unbecoming of a Jedi to trudge, or slink, no matter how tempting. So, he set his shoulders and walked down to Master Yoda's Quarters. He chimed the door, and it opened.

He walked in, used to Master Yoda's eccentric ways. "Questions you have," he heard from Master Yoda's small form. He was sitting on one of the meditation cushions, and Ash settled on one nearby.

"I suppose," he said. He had thought a lot about why he had been pulled from his morning meditation, not seen or heard from his Master, been told that the Council had ordered him to go with Master Kenobi because she was to take up where Master Tano had left off on some project while she was being called home. He had gone to Garos IV, only to find that Nadina had been left there, and had actually been able to secure the deal in the time since her Master had left. "I don't even know where to begin, Master."

"Meditate you should, until your question you find. Only then can you begin to seek wisdom. That you do not attempt a question immediately shows your mind is too stirred up. Seek solace in the Force you should, then your questions you may ask."

"Must I ask questions, Master?"

"Already a question. A lesson in itself that question is. What would you do if I said that a question you did not have to ask?"

"I would go find Master Skywalker, and speak with him."

"And to him, what would you say?"

"I suppose I would start with asking him why he felt it necessary to send me off without a word from him himself."

"Know the answer to that I do. Meditate will you until peace you have found again."

Ash settled himself, trying to release his emotional turmoil into the Force. He found that he was surprisingly successful, and after a little while he heard Master Yoda's voice again. "Speak now, we can."

"Yes, Master."

"Not involved in the decision to send you to Garos was Anakin."

"But he is my Master."

"Perhaps," Master Yoda agreed, "But problems he was headed into, and your presence, only compounded those problems it would have."

"That was what Master Tano was called back for, wasn't it?"

"Yes. To deal with Anakin as his Padawan she was recalled. Do not fear that he is not well."

"Thank you, Master. But I am his Padawan now."

Master Yoda chuckled. "Think you that I do not still consider Master Windu as my Padawan?"

That Master Windu had been Master Yoda's Padawan had escaped his notice, and he shrugged, not really knowing the answer to the question. "So, he needed her, not me. It still hurts that he didn't say anything."

"In meditation at my direction, was he," Master Yoda frowned. "Was supposed to be in meditation. Caught him sleeping, I did."

If there was one failing that his Master had consistently, it was his inability to meditate in the traditional sense. "Master Skywalker has always had trouble with that."

"Lacks discipline, Young Skywalker does. A trait not passed on to his children and Padawans, fortunately."

"You forget about Jaedrea, Master."

"The same as her father's, Younger Skywalker's problems are not. Though emulate him she tries."

"Is there something wrong with Master Skywalker?"

"Answer that for yourself you must. Changed, different, yes. Wrong? Only decide that for yourself you can."

"What happened?"

Master Yoda set his features in such a way that he knew he would not be getting any information out of him. "Ask your Master that question you may. Answer that he may not."

"If he's not going to answer my question, why should I ask?"

"He may answer. Anakin's feelings on this I do not know," Master Yoda said, and after a few moments of silence from Ash, he added, "A crisis you feel you are in."

"I am confused," Ash admitted.

"With time understanding will come."

"Yes, Master," Ash agreed, then after a moment, he asked, "Do you know why Master Skywalker took me on as his Padawan?"

"A very serious question that is."

"He never told me. I wonder sometimes if he just took me on out of pity."

"No," Master Yoda said, "Never pity. Jedi would not survive if this were permitted. Perhaps waited longer, out of compassion, he did, but for Leia, so that she would not be alone. He knows what it is like to be alone."

"So if Leia had gotten her act together sooner, I wouldn't have had to wait very long at all?"

"Know that you cannot. The decision to take you as his Padawan he did not reveal until before the Council Aayla brought Leia."

Ash frowned. "I still don't understand. I have little power within the Force, and I am not as adventurous as my Master, so what was the reason, Master Yoda?"

"He could see the potential for a great Jedi inside you."

"In me?"

"Yes. Quite an impassioned speech he made."

"Really?" Ash asked incredulously. "What did he say?"

"That is for him to tell you, young Padawan. Find the files of the Jedi Council meeting in which it was discussed, you might convince him."

"I never knew. I always thought that perhaps when Leia accepted her offer to Padawanship, she asked him."

Master Yoda chucked. "_That _much influence, Younger Skywalker does not have."

"I've never seen him say no to her."

"A privilege that Leia has learned not to abuse."

"Sometimes it feels like he's pushing me away."

"Discuss this with him did you?"

"No, but I was disappointed when he didn't want me with him while he was searching for Leia."

"Hmmmm. And what help would you have been to him?"

"Well, none really, but a Padawan's place is at his Master's side."

"Hmmmm. And what did you do while he was gone?"

"I did a lot of stuff," he said, and looked over at Master Yoda's expectant face. "Well, there was the team of Jedi who were helping settle those refugees from Hoth."

"How would your Master have fared if assigned to that task he was?"

"After the first day he would have been short-tempered, moody, and ready to go out and hurt a bunch of slavers."

"Yet stayed with that assignment you did for the whole two months he was gone."

"Of course, Master. We were helping these people rebuild their lives, and they trusted me, probably because I know Luke so well."

"Meditate on that situation you should, since troubles you it still does."

* * *

* * *

**New Ralltiir, Governmental Palace, Guest Quarters, 39:4:4**

Obi-Wan sighed as he sat down in the one chair that was in the room that had been provided for him. He had taken a smaller one than the room he'd originally been given because of how distressed Jaedrea had gotten at the thought of having him on the other side of the building. He had been a bit nervous about it as well, but they had been informed that males slept on one side of the building, and females on the other. The compromise of having Jae in the room with him was met with horror.

She was not his wife or his daughter, so this would not be permitted. He was given a room near the center and so was she, and this worked, She was five rooms away from him, which she had insisted was too far away, but the only other option would have been to go back to the ship, and that would have been ungracious and rude. The problem that Jaedrea was having with her nightmares was not yet serious enough to warrant either sending her home or going back to the ship to sleep. Yet. He would evaluate what her emotional state was like in the morning and make a decision then as to whether that had changed.

Jaedrea chimed his door then. "Come in," he called out to her.

"I don't see why I can't stay in here with you," she huffed, flouncing onto his bed.

"It is the custom of this planet. If you are really that worried about what will happen, we can go back to the ship. I dislike the option because it will not foster trust, and we will desperately need that here."

She considered what he had said for a few moments. "I think I'll be ok."

"Good," he said. Truth be told, he was concerned about leaving her alone. "But is that just because you think that is what I want to hear, or do you truly think you will be fine?"

She tucked her feet up onto the bed, effectively making herself a ball. "I feel vague uncertainties, Master. Nothing definite. Nothing definable. I don't know what to tell you more than that. Being on this planet feels like a mistake, but I don't know why. It's frustrating, Master."

Obi-Wan looked at her, and knew she was trying as hard as she could to explain what she felt, but was at just as much of a loss as he was to explain the vague foreboding that she was experiencing. "Well, if you have more nightmares tonight, I think it will warrant returning to the ship. I shall endeavor to be diplomatic about the return, but I do hope it will not be necessary."

"I will be back if there's something I need, Master."

"Good," he said, and she stood. "Don't worry about waking me. If you need me, I will be available to you."

* * *

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Healer's Hall, 39:4:4**

Leia looked up at the door on instinct. Someone would be coming through it in the next few seconds. So, it didn't really surprise her all that much when her parents walked through the door. "When do I get out of here?"

"I see that what ever happened has not made you a better patient," her mother said, causing Leia to give her a withering look. "Tomorrow, I think. Master Eerin doesn't want you at home alone," Padmé added.

"I'll be fine, Mom. Nothing wrong with me now," she said, but her father scowled at her and sat in the chair on the other side of the room.

"She wants to be sure, and so do I. In a very real sense I just got you into my life and I'm not ready for you to leave it," her father said. She still had trouble reconciling the monster Vader was with the impatient, but kind man before her now. In fact, now that she was remembering this life, the two personas her father had seemed even MORE at odds.

"Yes, Daddy."

"Even your father is worried about you. Does that tell you anything?"

She glanced at him, and he nodded. "I'm not getting out of here tonight, am I?" Leia sighed. "No, and pouting won't get you anywhere," her mother told her.

She nodded. "Is Master Secura going to come see me?"

"Whenever she is finished talking to Ahsoka," he said, and the door opened. "Or now."

"Awake now, Leia'wa?" Aayla asked, but something was off.

"Yes, Master, I'm sorry I worried you, but I really didn't have much choice. Mom, Dad, can I talk to my Master alone, please?" she said with a sigh, tucking a loose bit of hair behind her ear.

"Of course," Anakin said and both of them left.

Aayla spoke first, "You remember me now. I can feel it."

"Yes…I still remember the other…timeline, but I remember my life here too. It's still a bit of a mess in my head, but I'm slowly sorting through it. It is very strange having two sets of memories. Luke I think will have a tougher time with it though."

"Why do you say that?" Aayla asked.

"In the other time line he was raised on Tatooine, on Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru's farm. Much of his two memories are going to be a lot closer than mine are."

"You haven't told me much of this other timeline, I'd like to hear about it, if you are ready to talk about it."

Leia nodded. "Compared to here and now, it was a very dark place. The Empire was terrible, there were massacres and arrests without trials…those who spoke out disappeared. Even on Alderaan it was bad, though we were more sheltered from the worst of the abuses. At least until the Empire destroyed the planet."

"That is horrible, Leia. I've seen the results of orbital bombardments during the Pirate Wars, it is not a thing I'd wish on anyone."

"No, you don't understand Master. They completely destroyed the planet. All was left was an asteroid field that the few survivors, those who had been off planet, started calling The Graveyard."

"How? I can't imagine the amount of destructive power it would take to cause a planet to explode like that."

"I can, all too well. I still have nightmares of that horrible day. Vader holding me back as Tarkin gave the order to fire…" Leia would have brought her knees under her chin, and rested her head on them, but the twins were in her way, so she settled for only tucking one into her chest.

"Who is Vader?"

"He just left this room." Leia said, and a sad chuckle escaped her mouth at Aayla's look of disbelief.

"I know its hard to reconcile the kind loving father he was in this timeline with the homicidal Sith he was in the original time line."

"This Vader haunts you," Aayla said.

"Yes…while I was on the Death Star he tortured me. He was always professional about it. I don't think he took any pleasure from the pain he caused, but at the same time I don't think he felt any remorse either."

"Yet I feel you have affection for him, even before you gained access to your memories from this timeline."

"Yes…I was coming around. Part of that was getting to see him as a boy on Tatooine, I think. Then Luke telling me what happened to him in the previous timeline, I think the Galaxy was lucky he went numb instead of something else."

"You were involved with the events that led up to the Massacre in the Senate?"

"Yes…I also got to know him… who he is now. He has a lot of regrets, and he as of yet has no memories of this timeline. He doesn't remember being a father and a husband for the past twenty years."

"I see…and you never met me in this other time line?" Aayla asked.

"No, most of the Jedi were killed during the purges, so I assume Vader killed you at some point, but I'm sure you were dead. You'd have been a big part of the Alliance if you weren't. You wouldn't have been able to stay away I think."

"The Alliance?"

"The Alliance to Restore the Republic. After Palpatine's rise to power, numerous rebel groups rose up against his rule. The more open ones were quickly destroyed, eventually the ones that survived realized that banding together would be the only way to succeed, thus was born the Alliance."

"And you were active in this?"

"From the time I was sixteen. My adoptive father kept me out of Rebel activity until then, and then I think he only consented because I would've done it anyway and he wanted to direct my efforts to be both safe and effective."

"So you and Luke weren't raised together?"

"No, he was raised on Tatooine. The first time we met, and it is really strange having all of these memories that he's in…" she chuckled a bit.

"Remember something humorous?"

"Yes…the first time Luke and Mara met…I hope he knows what he's in for."

"Ah…you've told me the story before, I'm beginning to understand why you were so reluctant."

"I'm glad, Master, but I'm really glad I can now remember my time here, it makes things a little easier. Especially with Han."

"I never sensed you being uncomfortable with being married to him, why?"

"I was in love with him in the original timeline. He was rougher around the edges, but he's still essentially the same man, just a shade more disciplined, which I haven't decided yet if its an improvement or just different." Leia yawned, "I'm sorry, Master, but I have just lived twenty years while I was out, and I doubt it was very restful."

"You are probably correct. Sleep. We will talk more later."

* * *

* * *

**Shiava, Shiava, Main planetary landing area, 39:4:4**

Sev'rance Tann stepped lightly as she landed from the twenty-foot drop out of the door to her spaceship. She'd named it _Cobalt_, a shade of blue—not the same as the color of Cedric's eyes but she didn't have a name for that color. So, she'd named it and painted it a deep, vibrant shade of blue. Nor was it the shade of her skin. She told herself—and her Master—that it was just because she liked the color. In the deepest part of her soul, she didn't believe it, and she wasn't entirely sure that he did either.

He had let it go. He hadn't made her change it, or anything. It was strange. Like him letting it go when she'd denied her obsession with Cedric the day before she'd left for Bespin. Then, when she'd gotten finished with her negotiations there, he'd left a message for her to go to Shiava. He needed her to oversee a shipment of electronics for his ultimate Sith weapon. The Death Star. She'd rolled her eyes when she'd read the message, but he was off doing something else. She was babysitting what he didn't think she could mess up while he was doing what he felt was more important. He had never given her anything really important to do, at least not what she would consider important. She did still get better assignments than Grievous.

The door to her ship closed behind her, bringing her awareness back to her surroundings. "Welcome to Shiava," a smallish humanoid said to her.

"Thank you," she said. Courtesy cost her nothing, and went a long way to greasing the wheels of life. It was something that her Master had felt necessary to explain to her. "I am here to see Portmaster Ikyar. Would it be possible for you to direct me to him?"

"Ikyar is Portmaster over the goods port. I can give you directions or arrange transportation for you, at your convenience."

"Transportation would be good," she told the helpful being, and followed lazily in the same direction in which he had disappeared.

Shortly thereafter, he returned. "Transportation has been arranged, and will be here shortly. You may wait in the lounge until the transport arrives," he said, indicating a door on the other side of the room.

"Certainly," she said agreeably. He took her agreement for the dismissal that it was, and she sat in the lounge. There wasn't anyone there when she walked into the room, and she sat down and waited for her transport, and thought about what she was supposed to be doing, and what else she could be doing to further the cause of the Sith. Another small humanoid came to get her, carrying her bag and escorting her to a small vehicle. He put the bag in the baggage compartment and got into the driver's seat.

All this was done without a word, which was fine with her. There was something strange about this planet, and she wanted some time to concentrate on why she felt such anticipation here. The Force fairly tingled across her skin as a breeze cooled her. The anticipation made no sense to her, no matter what angle she tried to tackle the problem.

"We have arrived," the driver told her, bringing her back to the present, turning the vehicle off and removing her bag from the back.

"Thank you," she told him, and he bowed to her. She returned the bow, and he left. She looked at the beleaguered building that he'd left her in front of, and realized why this was the last shipment that would be coming by way of Shiava. Even with the extra money that they were giving to ensure that the shipments looked legal, this place was a dump. Either they weren't spending the money that was being handed out to improve the place, or the work hadn't started yet.

Probably the money was lining the pockets of the officials with no regard to how well their port ran. It wasn't her business, except that she was going to be the one telling him they had found other suppliers. She would have to walk the line between ensuring that he was threatened sufficiently to keep him in line even after they were gone and threatening him so much that he ran to the Republic.

* * *

* * *

**Ilum, Crystal Caverns, 39:4:4**

Jasmine realized with a start that she had almost no idea where she was. She felt frightened, almost as badly as she had when she had first entered the cave. _What's wrong?_ She heard Luke's mental voice, and that calmed her tremendously.

_Um, I think I'm lost._

_I don't need to come get you, do I?_ he asked, and she could feel the disappointment in his thoughts, tones, even in his very words.

_No,_ she responded almost immediately. _I can do it._

_All right,_ he agreed, and dropped the contact.

She frowned, trying to determine where she was in relation to the ship; there wasn't any way that Luke could hide his Force-signature from her—they were family. He wasn't trying, though. She used his position as a guide to get herself back to the ship and the landing pad.

* * *

* * *

**Shiava, Governmental Landing area, 39:4:4**

Cedric concentrated on flying into the atmosphere of Shiava. They would be busy enough that the analysis of the statistical data would have to wait at least for the trip home. He had put together another query for Master Ti to transmit to the Temple's database. She had told him that she would do so, but she hadn't mentioned when. He suspected it wouldn't be until they were almost ready to go home.

Almost the entire trip there he'd been completely engrossed in figuring out why they were on this mission, but now that part of his brain was not actively engaged in that task, he felt like a ton of bricks had hit him. Again. He'd forgotten to think about _her._ For hours.

How could he have? He _loved_ her, and she hadn't been on his mind for most of the day. He frowned and quashed the thoughts. He owed her nothing. All she had ever brought him was pain. He carefully focused all of his attention on the ship's descent.

"We have much to discuss before dinner, but first we will have a greeting committee. We got a bit distracted on the trip here, didn't we?"

"Yes, Master. Is there any particular custom that I should be aware of?"

"Nothing that should be a problem. You should be fine so long as you do not try to touch anyone."

"What does touching signify?"

"That you are married to the person who you are touching. It can get somewhat complicated if the two parties are not married, or especially if one is married and the other not. You are not yet of age, so there should be few who will take offense."

"That will be fine, Master. I do not normally touch very many people."

"I know. I thought I would mention it, though."

"Thank you, Master. I will keep it in mind," he said as the ship settled on the landing pad.

* * *

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Healer's Hall, 39:4:4**

When Leia woke, Ahsoka was there. She remembered being dubious of Mind Healers in general, but Ahsoka was like a sister to her, not to mention one of the more accomplished Mind Healers in the Order.

Most times, all that was needed was just someone to talk to, occasionally more was called for. That made her nervous, she wasn't sure she cared for someone mucking about inside her head. "Leia?"

She smiled at Ahsoka. "I'm awake. Is this business or personal?"

"Both, I'm afraid," she said, sitting at the foot of Leia's bed.

"Wonderful," Leia said, somewhat sarcastically, then sighed. "Well, if I have to have my head examined, I'd rather it was you." she said.

"Well, that is something. Aayla told me about your talk. I think it's good you've opened up to her."

"In some ways I feel better now that I've got these memories. At the same time, it's more than a little confusing. Having two sets of memories of puberty is NOT fun."

Ahsoka snickered a little, "Well, your sense of humor seems to have survived."

"Who's joking?" Leia replied dryly.

"Ok…let's get the evaluation over with then we can just talk."

"Sounds good to me."

"Ok, how well do you think you are dealing with your father?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, your father, if I'm correct, spent most of your life being your sworn enemy, correct?"

"Yes…that is true, but the time I spent in the past was a helped with that. I got to know HIM, as opposed to Vader."

"You refer to them as almost two different people, why is that?"

"I think Vader was a mask that he wore…" then she started laughing.

"What is funny?"

"Dark humor, I'm afraid. Vader had to wear a mask to breathe. He had suffered terrible injuries that resulted in him needing it. However, considering the Order was able to get him out of it makes me wonder if it wasn't just another string Palpatine tied to him."

"I see, so you believe that the persona of Vader was your father's way of doing what?"

"Hiding, I think. He'd lost so much, Mom had died just about the time Luke and I were born, he was being torn in two by competing loyalties, then there was the war on top of all of that. My father did horrible things as Vader, and for a long time I hated him for it, but now…now I think I understand."

"But you still don't condone what he did as Vader?"

"Of course not, but I have to wonder if I'd have lasted as long if I had been placed under the same pressures."

"I see. Now…your siblings, what are your feelings about them?"

"Well…I'm closest to Liz, other than Luke. The twins and the triplets I love them…but I doubt I'd confide in them like I would in you or Luke or Liz. The twins are six years younger, and the triplets are nine. We don't have a whole lot in common yet."

"I was asking about your feelings, not facts, Leia. It's obvious you wouldn't share things with Cedric or Celia or the Terrors for that matter. What I want to know is you were raised as an only child in this other time line from what I can gather and now you are the oldest sister in a family of ten. That has to be a shock to you."

"Hmmm…I never really thought about it. I really haven't had to deal with it. Liz, and Cedric and Jaedrea are on missions, Celia has her duties with emergency services, Julia spends a lot of her time flying, and Jasmine is with Luke on Ilum, hell, even my own husband is gone right now."

"Are you feeling abandoned?"

"A little…now that I have my memories of here and now, it's a little better in some ways, in others it's worse. I find myself wanting to reminisce with Han…Luke…everyone and they aren't here for me to exercise these memories, and a part of me is scared that if I don't they'll go away again and I won't get them back."

"Not what I was expecting to hear, but then again we are in uncharted territory with this. Now that I think about it, it sounds reasonable. I think that is enough of this now, and I think it would be best if we just talked now."

Leia smiled as the conversation turned to talk of her twins, and the excitement she felt about her impending motherhood.

* * *

* * *

**Ilum, Landing Area, **_**Bright Hope Ranger**_**, 39:4:4**

Luke sat on his bed and began to pull off his boots. "Well, that's a very big crystal she brought back, if I can judge it correctly," Mara said from where she sat on a big fluffy cushion that he probably used for meditation most of the time.

Luke frowned at the thought. "Yes. I'm wondering what she's got planned for it. Her hands are so tiny I don't think that they will even fit around a normal size lightsaber hilt right now."

"Well, I guess we will have to see," Mara said. "So what do you think about what happened today?"

"What, her getting lost?" he asked and Mara nodded. "I think we both learned valuable lessons today."

"Ok. What was her lesson?" she asked him as he set his boots off to one side, then stretching his legs out.

"Not to get so involved in what the Force was telling her that she is unaware of her surroundings."

"And your lesson?"

"That my Padawan depends on my approval far more than I am comfortable with."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"Try to wean her off of seeking my approval for things. I was a little disappointed when she told me that she was lost; she sensed it, and instead of asking for help, she spent three hours playing Here and There with my Force-signature."

"So?"

He sighed. "I hope this means I will never have to chastise her to pay attention to where she is and what is going on around her. Other than that, I'm not sure what, if anything, I'm going to do about what happened."

"I think she's going to be embarrassed enough about what happened for you not to need to do much of anything. You could ask Qui-Gon what he thinks."

He nodded. "It's going to be rough, for a while, until I get my memory back," he told her. "I keep getting these little glimmers of things, and it's frustrating."

"Little glimmers?" she asked hopefully.

"Come here," he said, patting the bed next to him. She came and sat down beside him.

"What?" she asked as he didn't say anything or move.

"Turn around," he said, and he produced a hairbrush from somewhere. She frowned.

"What?" she asked, not complying.

"One of the things I seem to know how to do is to braid a girl's hair. I seem to remember it having been up before at some point."

She smiled then and shook her head, turning around. "You are a very strange man, Luke Skywalker."

"I know," he told her, and started to brush her hair back. It was having the desired effect of soothing her, and he began to separate it carefully so that he could begin to braid it. Once he was finished, he found a hair tie in one of the drawers near the bed, and he fixed it so that it would stay. She leaned back against his chest and he put his arm around her. "There, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"No," she told him, and he was quiet for a long moment. "I suppose I'd better go to bed," she said and started to get up. He held her more tightly with the arm he had draped around her shoulders.

"Do you want me to stay?" she asked, leaning back against him again.

"I want to talk for a little while if that's all right with you."

"All you have to do is ask," she told him, turning in his arms so she could see him.

"I want to make sure that you're ok, regardless of everything else. How are you feeling, what kind of problems are you having with the baby, anything," he told her, turning so that he was facing her, and also putting a little bit of distance between them. Holding her had been…intoxicating. He wasn't sure where he needed to draw the line between ensuring that he was doing everything he could to make what she was going through easier and becoming entangled in his own attraction to her. He wasn't ready to cross boundaries he couldn't uncross, but he also didn't want to drive her away so that she didn't come back to him when he was ready to cross those lines.

She looked down for a moment, then she looked up at him, and she smiled. "Well, for starters, your daughter seems to have settled right on top of my bladder. I feel like I have to go every five minutes some days."

"Is that normal?"

She nodded. "Don't know that much about babies do you?"

He shook his head. "Not part of piloting or Jedi training."

"Didn't think so. You have just about five months to figure it out before she gets here. I'd take advantage of that if I were you."

"Are there classes or anything that I could take?"

"Yes, the Temple offers a fairly wide variety of parenting classes, and you could always ask your parents, or your Master, or Master Obi-Wan for advice."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, and when she didn't say anything else he asked, "So, what about you, how are you feeling?"

"Pregnant," she told him. "You missed the most fun part of the pregnancy, at least I think you did. I haven't been having morning sickness for the last few weeks. Thankfully."

"You're teasing me."

"Of course. What else am I going to do with you?"

He felt it then, the line he didn't want to cross tonight, and he felt her go still as she realized that this boundary had just gone up. He smiled at her sadly, knowing where teasing like that should have led, if everything had been right in the galaxy. He stood up, pulling her into a hug, fiercely holding her, because anything else would have been too much for him.

He wanted to be the man that she saw when she looked at him, and he couldn't, and it hurt. Dear Force, it hurt to look in her eyes, and see what he was not. And he wanted to be everything she saw. "Luke?" she looked up at him as he loosened his grip on her slightly. "What's wrong, honey?"

He blushed, and looked uncharacteristically nervous. "I'm not sure that I'm entirely comfortable being around you," he said, running the back of his fingers down the side of her face. "You know how I feel about relationships in general, and I don't want you to get the wrong impression, but it's only be a couple of days, and," he paused for a moment, then went on, "While I find you very attractive, I don't think anything physical should happen tonight. I want to talk to you, though, get to know you."

"Well, that's a start, I suppose, on getting everything put back the way that it should be."

"I'm sorry," he said as he turned her loose.

"For what?" she asked, sitting down on the bed.

"Because you look at me," he started to pace, knowing it was a habit of his father's, and that thought made him smile a little. "You look at me, and you see all this history, and you love me, this other me, that I have no memory of being, and there's no way that I can be, and I want to be," he told her, running his hand through his hair. "I want to be the person you see when you look at me, and I can't and it hurts me that I can't and I know it hurts you when I can hardly be in the same room with you because," he sighed in frustration, "Because you look at me, and you know me. You know every part of me, inside and out, good and bad, and I don't even know myself that well."

She sat back, contemplating what he'd said. "That's quite a speech, Farmboy," she sighed after a few moments, "I told you we would work through this. It's going to be painful, especially if you never get your memory back. But we will make something work out. For our daughter, for Jasmine, and for us. I want there to be an us, if for no other reason than I am deeply, madly in love with you, and have never looked at another man the way I look at you."

"Never?" he asked with a shy smile.

"Nope. I've been a one-man woman since my fourth birthday. You're lucky you don't still have bruises."

He hung his head, his cheeks flushing a little. "What exactly earned me bruises?"

"You pulled on my ponytails. Just because you were six didn't mean I wasn't going to beat the poodoo out of you."

"True love at first strike?" he asked slyly. He curled up at her feet, wanting to be close to her and not trusting himself to be too close to her. He put his head on her lap, and she started running her fingers through his hair.

"Something," she said, and then she yawned. "I do think it's time for me to go to bed now." He turned his face up to look at her, and she reached down and kissed him. It was awkward because of the position; he was afraid to move, afraid to breathe, and he didn't know whether he wanted her to go or to stay. "Go to bed, Farmboy. Your Padawan will be needing you in the morning."

* * *

* * *

**En route to Correlia, **_**Rogue Tanner**_**, 39:4:4**

Liz was confident that things had gone well with the Stryders and that she would be seeing Jydan in the crèche back home soon. This leg of the trip was to be done in a two-being craft that was well past its prime, but she was going alone. She was given the ship for the duration of her assignment by the Caamasi Temple, and she was supposed to return to Caamas when she was finished. She calculated the odds of that actually happening at one-in-twenty.

She would be able to put the time alone to good use with training. As she eased the ship into hyperspace, she heard a familiar voice. _"You are worried."_

She didn't have to ask what he was talking about. That Luke and Leia had been acting strangely had never really left her mind since she'd left Coruscant, and her father's worry for whatever situation was on his mind concerned her as well. "Of course."

"_Yet you do nothing about it,"_ the statement was not condemnation, nor praise, not really question, though she could sense his curiosity about it.

"If I thought there was something I could do about it, I might have tried."

"_But they are adults. I understand the problems they are having; they will resolve by the time you return. I do suggest you ask them about it, though."_

"I intend to. You almost never tell me about the future, or what's going on elsewhere."

"_Do the unexpected."_

"Yes, Master," she said, turning the pilot's chair so that she could see the ghostly blue form. She pulled one of her legs up into the chair with her—a habit she'd picked up from her sister, though she didn't quite know where Leia had gotten it. As far as she'd seen, neither of their parents did it. "I was going to set down and look the ship over again when I got to Correlia."

"_That's a good idea. It doesn't sound right."_

"I think she's just old, but I think I could help her along."

"_Help her along into her grave."_

"Now, Master," she chided. "You know my skills are first rate."

"_Yes, fortunately. You put them to so little use, I wonder sometimes."_

"I do what I can. I couldn't exactly go off half-cocked at fifteen, could I? Dad would have had a fit."

"_You've never done anything half-cocked, chikra. Carefully considered from the shadows has always been your way. It is why I chose you for this duty."_

"I know. I sometimes wonder why now was chosen for the resurrection of a practice a millennia dead, but I do rather appreciate the chance to be the first."

"_What makes you think you are the first?" _the Houk Force ghost's eyes twinkled as she picked up a protein bar and threw it at him. _"Is that any way to treat your Master?" _At her withering look, he capitulated. _"Alright, alright, you're the first. The first in a thousand years. The reason why now, is that thirty-six years ago, darkness broke its stranglehold on the Force. The same week your father came to Coruscant to live. We sought one such as you but until you were born, we despaired that you would even be able to emerge from the Phoenix-ashes of the Order as it was before. Do you understand why it was possible to contact you and not anyone for the thousand years before you were born?"_

"The Massacre in the Senate. The Sith Lord they killed there."

"_Yes. Those who have kept or regained their identity within the Force suspect that it is the death of that Sith which has caused a number of odd things to go on. Things are only just now getting settled. It is brighter within the Force than it has been for a long time."_

She bowed her head. This was the most that he'd told her about that which lay beyond death since he'd come to her, telling her that he wished her to train as a Sentinel. Her skills as well as her sense of right and wrong had been tested to the utmost since that day. She had been five, and had been in Initiate training for just long enough to be comfortable there. He had let her think about it. He told her that it was the most serious commitment that she would ever make. She had investigated what the records had to say about what a Sentinel was, and found it agreeable. The secretive nature of this branch of the Order had been the most appealing at the time, but everything about it had felt so right. "I am glad that this has enabled you to come to me, even though it came at the price of another life."

"_A life such as his is worthless."_

The statement he made shocked her into dropping her jaw. The man who'd taught her that all life had value had just condemned one of his fellow beings as worthless, irredeemable. "Why, Master?" she asked him quietly.

"_There are Sith, and then there are _Sith._ Palpatine was an ultimate strategist, only caring what an action would gain him. He, so far as is discernable, had no morals. There was only power, only knowledge, which lead to more power. If the truth would do, he told the truth. If a lie would do better, he lied. If killing a baby would gain him something more valuable than the life of a child, he killed the baby. Genocide was not outside his thought process, and he would willingly do it himself. He felt little emotion, and cared for no one, not even his apprentice."_

Horror had crept over her face, and her Master's sympathetic face did little to ease it. "So is there a point of no return?"

"_Not a definable one, but when someone refuses to acknowledge the limits of law upon themselves, or that there is right and wrong, good and bad, then yes, they've crossed that line. It may be difficult to see the line, but to see that someone has crossed it? That is not so difficult."_

"I know that you have taught me that there is no one irredeemable if they will only see. I don't see how this fits there."

"_Well, it fits in the refusal to see that they can change, and the absence of the desire to change. If someone has gone so far into evil that they have quenched that fire within themselves, there is little someone can do from the outside."_

"So, it wasn't that he was evil, it was that he didn't see his actions as evil that condemns him?"

"_Exactly, child. Come, we have work to do. I have a feeling you will be needing all the skills I have taught you, and all the ones you have by your father's grace."_

"And my mother's. I think that's how Dad doesn't suspect me of anything ever. My bluffing skills come from her."

"_True enough. Come," _he said again, and this time he walked to the back of the ship without looking back, expecting her to follow.

* * *

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Hallway, 39:4:4**

Julia was making her way to her parent's quarters by way of the hall that took her past Master Yoda's quarters. It usually made her feel better when she did that, as though Master Yoda's legendary calm had even seeped into the very hallway.

As she passed the door to Master Yoda's quarters, it surprised her by opening. Ash was behind the door, and he stepped out. "I'm sorry," he told her, "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's ok, Ash. I don't think I've ever seen Master Yoda's door open before."

"Ah," he said, and they continued on to their quarters. "So what has been going on in the last couple of days?"

"Oh, Force, I don't even know where to start," she said with a sigh. "Dad's been acting weird, and Mom's been home from Senate for most of the last three days, and Leia's mad at Daddy, but no one will tell me why."

"Where are they? I didn't see anyone at home."

"I don't know. They weren't home when I got home from school, so I did homework and went to Master Tiin's."

"Your mother has taken time off from the Senate?"

"Yeah, I know, weird. She never does that, but she's been home all day today, and she was home early yesterday. And the first day you were gone, she was home all day, too. "

"That is odd, I agree."

"So you don't know what is going on either?"

"No, I left so quickly that Master Skywalker didn't see me before I went. Everything was fine the night before, but something happened. Master Yoda wouldn't say much about it, but something had to have happened."

"Nothing that I know about. I got up and you were gone, Dad was gone, Luke and Leia went with Master Yoda for some unknown reason, and Daddy, too. Master Yoda stayed for breakfast, and then I went out with Rogue Squadron, but Mom never went to the Senate. Dad was gone most of the day, and Mom thought it would be a good idea for me to eat with Master Tiin. I don't know what else happened, but Dad was barely home most of the day. Then I get up, Dad isn't home _again_, and he didn't come home at all that morning. He was somewhere in the Temple, but Mom didn't say anything. I don't know if he asked, or she knows what is going on. This morning he's gone again, but he comes in while I'm off at Master Tiin's in morning meditation, and he cooks breakfast like there's nothing wrong. Mom knows what's going on, but that doesn't mean anything. And pretty much everybody left while you were gone. Leia and Celia and me are the only ones home."

"Well, I knew that Elizabeth was leaving."

"Yeah, but Luke and Jasmine will be back soon, they went to Ilum."

"She has found a Master at last?"

"Yeah, Luke."

This statement startled Ash enough that he paused for a moment. "That was permitted?"

"You know Luke's the Council's new Golden Boy. If he asked them to make the sun rise in the evening instead of setting, I think they'd find a way."

Ash was smiling. She could just feel the edge of it in his Force-signature, but it was there, which made her grin back at him. "I don't know that I would go that far."

"Well, you know what I mean. Come on, I'm sure there's something in the workroom that needs fixed and we can talk some more," she told him, and he followed her to a place that had been set aside for Anakin's use as a workroom many years before.

* * *

* * *

**Ilum, Landing Area, **_**Bright Hope Ranger**_**, 39:4:5**

Luke was still in his cabin, trying to meditate when Jasmine found him. "Master Luke?"

"Yes?" he asked, opening his eyes.

"I am hungry, do you think we could start with breakfast then meditation?"

He nodded. "I'm not getting anywhere anyway."

She looked up at him quizzically. "What's wrong?"

"My mind is just unsettled is all. Even Jedi Masters have trouble meditating sometimes."

"Oh," she said as they entered the galley. "I thought that maybe you learned not to have trouble at some point," she said hopefully.

"No, you just learn to manage your troubles better. Even then, sometimes it just doesn't work for you."

"Oh. So you get better at it, but you don't have to be perfect?"

Luke shook his head. "No. No one will expect you to be perfect, or not need help sometimes. It's only natural. Always remember that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses."

"Ok. I was hoping that we could maybe do the Padawan bonding today?"

"I suppose we could. Why are you so eager for that particular part? We still have a lot of work you could be doing on your lightsaber."

She squirmed uncomfortably. "Once that is done, only the most dire of circumstances would make the Council take me away from you, but until the bond is in place, they can change their minds."

"Have you ever heard of that happening?"

She thought for a long moment. "Not specifically, no."

"So why are you worried about it? The Council thought for a long time on whether this would be right for us, and they were very sure of that fact. Dad and Ben especially. Master Windu, too."

"You don't think they will change their minds?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't think that they would take away anyone's Padawan unless there was a specific, very good reason to do so."

She looked relieved. "Still, that is the official mark of my Padawanship. I want to do it."

"Alright, Little Bit," he said, ruffling her hair. "I guess we can start with that today."

She smiled, and then started looking around for what she wanted to eat.

* * *

* * *

**Coruscant, Galactic City, Lower levels, Level 2 Holding Facility G-3492, 39:4:5**

Celia walked into the level 2 holding facility. It was a step up from the level 1 facilities, but those mostly handled traffic violations, minor domestic disputes and the like. Level 2 facilities held people who were being bound over for trial, were being transferred to higher-level facilities, and who were given short-term sentences as punishment for misdemeanor crimes.

She was here to see the prisoner she had captured a few days earlier, because she hadn't had time while she was with the emergency responder team. "Jedi Skywalker, to see Dudisar Reland," she told the guard.

The guard asked for identification, which she presented. Jedi identification did not change from Padawan to Master, it simply stated name and Temple. Very helpful for an enterprising young Padawan who wanted more information than most people would want her to have. She knew it wouldn't tell him much, and even a search of the database wouldn't produce much more. He might be able to figure out how old she was, but as to whether or not she was allowed to see the prisoner, he would have to call the Temple, and they would say he had to contact her Master, and her Master would be sought, and perhaps would give him an answer.

But most people trusted that if a Jedi was there to do something, then they had every right to be there. She held herself calmly as one of the guards escorted her back to a conference room. He told her that he would bring the prisoner in a moment, and she could sit down if she liked while she waited. She nodded, thankful for the few moments alone. She usually wasn't prone to nervousness, but there was a niggling desire in the back of her mind to take care of this now, as opposed to letting the police handle it.

She was soon joined by the man she'd apprehended, and he was edgy, but understandably so. She would be edgy if she were in his position, too. He sat down, and she looked him over for a few minutes without saying anything. That made him more nervous, shifting in the chair, but that only meant that she would likely get more out of him. "Tell me about this Rodian, Lett."

"I'll tell you about him…I wish I'd killed him. His boss is horning in on this prime virgin territory."

"What is the name of his gang?" Celia asked.

"And why should I tell the likes of you? Sure you're pretty, but I doubt you'd really make it worth my while to tell you about it, in that sense…it gets lonely in a cell," the thug leered at Celia and it took all of her self-control not to roll her eyes.

"I think you are wrong. Help us shut this down and you'll get a reduced sentence."

"You can't promise that. The prosecutor isn't here. I know that much, so much for the vaunted Jedi."

"A Jedi's suggestion carries a lot of weight."

"Really, about what fifty kilos, in your case? Sorry, not good enough, sweetheart."

"What kind of a deal would get you to talk?" she asked him.

"I want out of here."

"Just based on what they have you here for, you're going to be in prison for the rest of your life. You aren't going to get out of all of it."

"A man has to be able to dream, don't he?"

"Well, I am sure you can't get out without doing some time."

"Talk to the prosecutor. Half time. If you can get my sentence reduced by half, I will talk to you."

* * *

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Healer's Hall, 39:4:5**

Anakin was sitting and talking quietly with Leia, Ahsoka and Aayla when Bant walked into the room. "Whatever is going on hit Luke, too. He was trying to establish the Master-Padawan Bond with Jasmine. If I had thought of it, I would have told them not to. Good thing they had Mara with them, because when it hit Luke, it hit Jaz, too."

Ahsoka got a calculating look on her face. "No," he said to his former Padawan.

"You don't even know what I was thinking," she chastised him.

"I don't have to. I know that look. It spells trouble, doom and havoc for whoever you are directing it toward. I don't need that."

"I wasn't going to direct doom, havoc or trouble at you, Master," she said petulantly.

"I want no part of whatever scheme you're cooking up. Clear?"

She set her features in the way that he knew meant she would just think up another way to get around his prohibition. "If you think that best, Master."

* * *

* * *

**Eriadu, Landing area, **_**Millennium Falcon**_**, 39:4:5**

Han looked up from where he was cooking flat cakes, a personal favorite of his, as Master Mundi walked into the galley. "Good morning," he said.

"Good morning, Captain Solo," he responded as he sat down. "I have given much thought to what you told me last night, and I have come to a decision."

"What's that?"

"I have decided that, since it is obvious that slavery is sanctioned by the government, that these negotiations are being conducted in bad faith, and I will not tolerate it. I want you to do me a favor today."

"Sure, Master Mundi. You know I'm up for about anything."

"I want you to find your little slave boy and bring him along, then we are going home," he said, and laid an odd looking device onto the table. Chills went down his spine when he saw it, and he knew exactly what it was.

"A disabler? Am I really going to need that?"

"I don't know, but, it won't hurt to scan him and if they've put some kind of device in the boy remove it. This does both."

"Really," Han said thoughtfully as he put the finishing touches on their breakfast. "What's the range on it?"

"Quite good, actually. The scan range is ten meters, that's easy enough. Disabling is about half a meter, but it's actually better if you can run the affected body part through the electromagnet. You know how slavers prefer arms or legs over something more vital."

"Yeah. Why waste someone when all you have to do is disable them?"

"Now, now, Han. It is not the time to be bitter. Now is the time to save him in the hope that we can save others. I will go on with negotiations as normal, and you will try to go find the boy."

"Thank you, Master Mundi."

"Don't thank me just yet. We are by no means out of danger."

* * *

* * *

**Ilum, Landing Area, **_**Bright Hope Ranger**_**, 39:4:5**

Mara smiled as Jasmine chatted excitedly about wanting to start immediately on their Master-Padawan bonding ceremony during breakfast. "Do you mind if Mara watches, Jasmine?"

"No, why would I mind?" she asked, truly puzzled.

"Well, from what I've read, this is supposed to be a very private ceremony," Luke said.

"Oh. But she's going to be helping with my training just as much as you are, isn't she? You know, Like Aunt Siri did with Dad, and maybe she'll even take a Padawan and then I can have someone to train with like Dad and Uncle Ferus."

Luke looked over at her, lost among the list of unfamiliar names. "Ok," he said, taking a breath, "Maybe you should back up and tell me a little bit about these people."

"Oh. Well, Aunt Siri is Uncle Obi-Wan's wife. They were married a really long time ago, and Aunt Siri took Uncle Ferus as her Padawan before they got married, maybe a year after Dad got to the Temple. They weren't married until a few years after that. So, Dad and Uncle Ferus trained together. Two Masters, two Padawans. But they both learned from both Uncle Obi-Wan and Aunt Siri."

"Did Siri ever take any other Padawans?" Luke asked.

Mara was the one who answered, "Yes, but it was before I became Master Obi-Wan's Padawan. J. K. He was almost finished with his training by the time I began mine. She said she wanted to take a third Padawan, but I don't think she really thought about it much, because Obi-Wan had me, and Anakin had Ash, and Qui-Gon had you by that point. Rain was seventeen when I began my Padawanship, and Dan and Fin were fifteen and fourteen."

"And what happened then?"

"Well, you and Leia were born, and Anakin and Obi-Wan were focused on Ahsoka's training, and Siri to a lesser extent. I don't think I ever asked why she didn't feel the need to take on another Padawan. I do know she occasionally went and observed the Initiate classes, but she never took anyone home."

"Maybe after Uncle Ferus and Daddy she didn't want to. Daddy is very..." Jasmine couldn't seem to decide on a word that worked for her.

"Stubborn?" Mara suggested.

"That will work," Jasmine said, "But there's more to it. And Uncle Ferus is like that, too, just better at hiding it."

"Well, it sounds like there is precident for this," Luke said. "And we will make this work."

"Of course, Master Luke," Jasmine said. In this, it seemed, she was determined to have her way with things, no matter how uncomfortable that made her husband.

Mara sighed as she settled down to watch Luke and Jasmine, On the outside, there wasn't much going on, just the two of them sitting and meditating. She could see the interplay between them in the Force, though, and she wondered if anyone else had ever observed the creation of a Padawan bond.

She watched, facinated for several hours, until, suddenly, both of them were passed out, unconscious. "Luke?" she said, getting up immediately, rushing over to him. He said nothing, and she shook him. but he just moved bonelessly with the movements her shaking him was causing. "Jaz?" she shook the girl, but her problem was the same. The Force was telling her not to worry; they were just sleeping, but she'd never encountered a sleep that you couldn't wake someone from. She needed to get them home. She carried Jasmine into her room, strapping her down so that if there were some sort of emergency, she wouldn't be hurt. She did the same with Luke, though with considerably more difficulty. Then she strapped herself into the cockpit, starting the ship up and using an emergency hail to Coruscant.

"_Bright Hope Ranger, _is there an emergency?" she finally got back. The delay was going to be horrific. She finished the pre-flight checks, and started to lift the ship off the landing pad.

"This is Mara Jade-Skywalker, I need to be patched to the Temple Healers," she said, and after a few moments, she heard a familiar voice.

"This is Master Healer Eerin. What seems to be the problem, Mara?"

"It's Luke and Jasmine. They are both unconscious. They were trying to establish their Master-Padawan bond this morning, and then—wham—they were both unconscious."

"Unconscious or asleep?"

"The Force tells me that they are asleep, but I can't wake either of them. I'm headed home on a least-time approach to Coruscant," she said, and Hi-ny, who had wheeled himself up to the front of the ship, was sorting through and listing options for her on the small display screen. She chose the option she knew would be easiest to navigate by herself, and indicated it to him, and he started to program their jumps and input them into the computer.

"I imagine they will both be up before then," Master Eerin said, and she could hear the frown in her voice. "Give it about four hours."

"Four hours?" she nearly screamed into the mike.

"If it's been significantly longer, drop out of hyper and let me know. Otherwise, I'll be expecting the three of you in about eight hours. We will get space cleared for you to come in quickly."

She knew that there was little that Bant could do for her from here, and if they truly were just asleep, then there was nothing _to_ do. She sat back, waited for Hi-ny to finish the calculations and confirm them, and launched the ship into hyperspace.

* * *

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:5**

Ahsoka was standing on the Skywalkers' balcony. She looked at her Master and frowned. Nadina and Ash had just gotten back, and now she saw that look, and she knew what it meant, what needed to happen. She also knew that they would have a pair of Padawans hanging on their every move, and those Padawans deserved to be right there with them. It would be inconvenient, at least until she could figure out what had happened to Leia and Luke and duplicate it with her Master.

As much as it was going to be a pain to have both Nadina and Ash with them they couldn't take off without them, that was just something that he was going to have to deal with. They'd both earned the right. "Master?" she asked as he looked off into the distance, but sky-distance, not ground-distance.

"Ahsoka," he acknowledged her, but didn't look away.

"You feel it, don't you?"

He frowned. "I don't know what _it_ is, but yes, there's something pulling at me, urgently."

"Do you know where?"

"Jaedrea," he said, and she waited for him to say more. "Wherever Jaedrea is, that is where I need to be."

"New Ralltiir. It's out in the Tingel Arm."

"What is this? You act like it's happened before."

"Maul. The Force pulls you where he is, so that you can stop him, or at least that's what we have assumed. Sometimes you succeed, sometimes not. Sometimes there's a fight, sometimes not."

"It sounds like the Force is screaming at me. We need to go, now."

"We should inform our Padawans," she said sensibly.

"And what will we tell them?"

"That the Force is drawing you to New Ralltiir. Nadina won't understand as readily as Ash, but he's known you long enough that it won't be a problem."

"No. No one else. I don't even really think bringing you is a good idea," he said, frowning at her. "But I will let you come as long as you don't get in the way."

"I was not made a Master for no reason, and leaving your Padawan behind is unacceptable. Ash will think it reflects on him in some way that you sent him off with Siri without a word to him as it is," she said rolling her eyes. "Come on, I haven't actually unpacked from Garos, and I know where Padmé keeps a bag packed for you, and one for Ash. Nadina just got back, and she shouldn't have started unpacking yet."


	11. Taking off

**AN: I know I've been promising to get back to my other stories, and I will, but these guys clamor more loudly...perhaps because there are so many of them...**

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:5**

Padmé had been thinking for the several days that she'd known that Anakin, Luke and Leia had changed, and she had finally come to a decision as to what she needed to do about that change, and she decided that stepping back from the Senate to care for her family was the move she needed to be making.

It appeared that they would all be getting their memories back. Leia had fallen unconscious and woken with a reasonable grip on both sets of memories, though she was having trouble with reconciling them. She didn't have any experience with the Jedi arts in the other time, and she was only a Padawan in this. It was plausible that Anakin and Luke would both have an easier time. And now there was the news that Luke and Jasmine had both fallen unconscious, which had apparently scared Mara to her wits' end.

Until Anakin was able to reconcile his memory, he would be by far the most fragile of the three of them, and would need all the help and support that he could get. She knew what the outside world saw. Jedi Master. Reckless warrior. The Hero with No Fear. Savior or destroyer of planets, seemingly at a whim. A law unto himself. Answerable only to her.

He was reckless, though less so now. Having children had made him responsible, though it had taken longer than she would have liked for responsibility to fully integrate into his psyche. He still had little fear for his personal safety. He had learned early that he could do amazing things with the Force, and seemingly defy death, gravity, or whatever law he found inconvenient.

But all that had changed. It seemed like he had completely lost faith in himself, in his ability to judge right and wrong. He didn't want to be anywhere near the spotlight he'd eventually become comfortable with. He was delighted to have such a large family, but he didn't feel the connection with them that he felt he should, and that was weighing on him. And all of that, the loss of his sense of self, of his confidence, was something she could help him regain. Or at least, she felt that she could. The thing that would really do it would be for him to regain his memory.

So, she needed to be around him, helping him. To that end, she had invited Bail over to their home, and now he was here. The front desk had sent a runner up with him. He was an invited guest, but he was not going to be allowed to walk around unescorted. Besides, the Temple was a maze of corridors and unmarked doors, and even she got lost occasionally, despite having lived in the Temple for over twenty years.

"Madam Chancellor?" a boy asked as the door opened. He was young enough to still be an Initiate, not yet ready for Padawanhood. He looked either human or near-human, with very blonde hair.

"Yes?"

"Senator Organa is here to see you, Ma'am."

"Thank you. What is your name?"

"Cristchen, Cristchen Anson."

"Thank you, Cristchen. May the Force be with you."

"Yes, Madam Chancellor, thank you," he said, bowing and hurrying off to other duties. She smiled as she thought fondly of the time when her children were the ones doing that duty, but they had all out grown it now.

"What is that smile for?" Bail asked as he walked in.

"Fond memories," she told him, then turned her attention to the reason she had asked him here. "I need you to take over for me at the Senate."

"For how long?"

"Not long, hopefully. No one else is to know what I am about to tell you, and some of it may seem completely unbelievable, but I swear to you that everything I am about to tell you is true."

"Alright, Padmé. I've never known you to lie, if you think you need time off the Senate without anyone else knowing what's going on, that's your call."

She shook her head. "This all started when I was fourteen, with the Invasion of Naboo by the Trade Federation."

"You were queen then?"

She nodded. "Jedi were called in by Chancellor Valorum; Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was still a Padawan at the time."

"I know."

"What you don't know, what very few people knew even then, was that there was a third Jedi assigned to come with them, a Jedi no one had ever heard of at that time, who had just appeared out of nowhere. The name he gave was Luke Skywalker."

"You can't be serious!"

"You see why I don't want to reveal anything of the nature of my reasons for taking a leave of absence."

"This is verifiable, isn't it?"

She nodded slowly. "Luke testified before the Senate. The recordings have been sealed and secured here at the Temple, but yes, it's verifiable," she said, then continued after a pause. "At about the same time on Naboo, another stranger appeared, and she claimed that her name was Leia Organa, the twin sister of the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker."

Bail looked confused. "Not Skywalker?"

"No, the two of them had all manner of wild stories about Palpatine being an Emperor in the future, being separated, living apart, not knowing until they were grown that they were even related. Tales that would horrify you, I am sure. They were both good kids, but anyone who met them could tell you that they had both had a hard life. Being Force-sensitive when the Jedi had been hunted to extinction by the Sith couldn't have been pleasant. I had several discussions with Leia about some general political figures of the time both her time in the Senate and the rise of the Empire. She always spoke very highly of you, and it was not because you were her father, but because you had always stood your ground, and were an excellent teacher about the nature of the political machinery and the people who inhabited it."

"That was the reason that I was chosen as part of the reconstruction team after the Massacre in the Senate?"

"Part of the reason. Bail Antilles would have been part of the team had he not refused to return to Coruscant after. You were a logical person to replace him, and would have access to his knowledge if you needed it," she said, then returned to the topic at hand. "They knew nothing of us, either of them. Luke was on Tatooine with Anakin's family and Leia on Alderaan with you. Palpatine they feared, hated in a way I've never seen with anyone, Leia especially, but it was Palpatine's Apprentice that sent both of them to bed with nightmares."

"Darth Maul?"

"No. If they had not gone into the past, Maul would have died, and Palpatine would have taken on a new apprentice, Darth Vader."

"Vader?" Bail mused for a moment, "I've never heard of him."

"Yes, thankfully. He was cruel, heartless, short-tempered, and imposing. He existed only to serve the Empire. He hunted Jedi most ruthlessly, for he blamed them, I think, for what he had become. He changed, at the end, killed the Emperor. It was Luke that did that."

"Luke changed Vader? How? It is possible to turn someone away from the Sith at all?"

"Existing. Being strong. I don't know the details of the battle with the Emperor. I do know that at the end of the battle, Vader, Luke and Leia were transported back in time to two places. Vader stayed at the Temple while Luke was with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. Vader had been badly injured, but he had returned to the person he was before Palpatine had turned him against everything he cared about and loved. He became Anakin again."

It took Bail a while to process everything she had told him. "How much of this did you know when you married him?"

"All of it. I knew it all before the Massacre. I had nearly ten years to think about it, put it into perspective. We all have the capacity for light and dark inside of us, but Palpatine is dead, and there is no way to twist Anakin as hard as he had to be twisted in order for what happened then to happen now."

"So, why are you telling me this story now?"

"They have returned. Or their memories, or spirits, or whatever you want to call it. They all three remember the Empire and that other life. I need to take care of my family right now, Bail."

"I understand," he said, "I will take care of the Senate for you. Do you have any idea how long it will be?"

"No. Anakin seems very fragile right now. I know most people wouldn't understand how that could be, but he needs me. Luke and Leia will be fine, I think, they are already adjusting."

It was then that the door opened. Anakin, Ahsoka, and Leia walked in. Padmé stood up, and Anakin gave her a kiss on the cheek. "What are you doing home?"

"I was talking to Bail. There are just some things that are better not discussed within the Rotunda."

"Alright. Bant released Leia."

"Good. Luke will be home soon?"

"In about three hours," Leia answered, and paused as she noticed Bail. "It is good to see you well, Senator Organa."

"Your mother was just telling me the most fascinating story."

"If it has anything to do with this family, you should believe it. The strangest things happen around here," Leia said, and turned her attention to her parents. "I'm going to go lay down now. I will be back in a couple of hours for dinner."

"You were resting all day at the Healers." Anakin pointed out.

"That is not rest."

"Go ahead, Leia, it's fine," Padmé said, cutting off further protest from Anakin.

He didn't seem happy with that but didn't say anything, and headed for the balcony, and Ahsoka followed him.

"That was…interesting," Bail said as her attention returned to him.

"So, you see why I feel I need to be here?"

He scratched at his beard for a moment, thinking. "Yes. I don't think it will be a problem for a few weeks, at least. You deserve some time off, and I don't think the galaxy will collapse if you aren't there. I'll contact you on your personal frequency if we need anything," Bail rose, and she followed suit. "It was a pleasure, as always, Chancellor."

Julia came in then, probably just dropping things off then heading out to see Saesee Tiin. "Julia, do you think you could escort Senator Organa out?"

"Sure, I have to go to the other side of the Temple anyway."

* * *

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Balcony, 39:4:5**

Ahsoka put a hand on Anakin's chest, getting in his way and slowing him down. Not that he wouldn't steam-roll over her if she didn't have a good reason, but it gave her his attention. "Slow down, Skyguy. Ten minutes to make this official and check in with Master Kenobi is not going to kill you."

His eyes flashed angrily, but he held his tongue, and after a moment, he gave a curt nod. "You tell Master Windu, I will talk to Obi-Wan."

She accepted his division of labor as the best she was going to get out of him at that particular moment, so she commed master Windu. "Hello?"

"Master Windu, this is Ahsoka Tano."

"Master Tano," he acknowledged.

"It's Master Skywalker, sir. He's got something from the Force on Maul. Says he's on New Ralltiir."

"Are you going with him?"

"Unless you specifically order me not to."

"No. Take care of him. Report back when you can."

"Thank you, Master. We will."

* * *

* * *

**Eriadu, Maker's Way Cantina, 39:4:5**

Han walked into the Maker's Way again, this time with a mission. He had a small carryall with a few things in it, mostly to hide the bulk of the disabler. There was a blaster in there, too, but he doubted he would actually need it. Chewie had come with him, watching his back like always, but he wasn't in much of a mood for conversation, and neither was his First Mate.

The scene was much the same as the last time he'd been in there—a few scattered slaves mixed among the general population of patrons. He noticed the slaves seemed to mostly be children, but perhaps it was only that they brought children with them, while adult slaves did other things, like farm work and such.

It wasn't long after Han and Chewie settled at the same table that they had the night before that Kyr and his owners came in. He didn't seem worse for the wear, so it appeared that the owners hadn't noticed him talking to strangers the day before. Han sipped whiskey for a couple of hours while the owners got loud and rowdy. He had them sent drinks a couple of times anonymously, and they had enjoyed the harder liquors as much as they did the cheaper stuff that they ordered for themselves. Others came in, and they seemed to forget Kyr as they moved off to another part of the bar to enjoy one of the games that the establishment had set up.

"Kid, hey, kid," he said in a hushed tone under the murmur of the crowd.

"What?" Kyr asked sullenly, not moving.

"Do you know if you have a transmitter?"

"I think so," he said and showed them where there was an odd lump on the underside of his arm.

"Do you think you could come over here for a minute? I have a disabler."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Han said. He was glad that they were in a secluded corner, away from most people's eyes.

"Why would you do this?"

"When I was your age, I was little better than a slave. I didn't have anyone to look out for me for a long time, and I don't want to see anyone have to endure that if I don't have to. Do you mind coming with me for a while? I live on Coruscant and I know the Chancellor. She'll want to talk to you."

He looked a little frightened. "The Chancellor? I couldn't possibly talk to her!"

"I don't want you to do anything that you don't want to do, but if you don't help us, we can't free anyone else here."

"You think I can really help you free the other slaves here?"

Han nodded, and Kyr got up, coming over to his table finally. "So the disabler? To make the transmitter not work?"

Han pulled out the disabler, which was roughly circular, with a hole at the center, and a bar on one side that acted as a handle. He kept it under the table. "Put your arm in here," he said, and Kyr did as he requested.

He turned the scanner on, and it indicated that the device was of a standard type. While it might be told to the slave that they would automatically explode if they escaped, the device would only activate if the proper code were given to it, for which Han was grateful. He deactivated the device. "Good, you're all set," he told the boy, and Kyr sat back down on the floor. "Do you think it will cause a ruckus if you leave with me?"

"I shouldn't think so," Kyr told him.

"Well, let's head out to my ship then."

* * *

* * *

**New Ralltiir, Governmental Palace, Guest Quarters, 39:4:5, just past midnight local time**

Obi-Wan woke, and it took him a moment to orient himself. He sat up on the edge of the sleepcouch, and that was when his comlink sounded. "Kenobi," he said, flipping it on without looking at who was contacting him.

"Obi-Wan," it was Anakin's voice, "Snips and I will be joining you shortly. I feel there is something important that I must do."

"Anakin," he said, allowing some frustration to creep into his voice, "You are about as helpful as Jae."

"Ahsoka says I have the look I always do when Maul is up to something."

The string of curses he let out would have impressed anyone but Anakin, from whom he had learned at least half of them. "How long?"

After a pause that indicated Anakin was calculating the hyperspace route, he said, "Twelve hours."

"I will expect you for lunch then," he said, and Anakin muttered something that sounded like agreement, then closed the communication.

"He thought for a few moments, and this along with Jae's more vague premonitions warranted moving to the ship for the rest of the night.

He walked to the door to her room and chimed her, but got no answer.

* * *

* * *

**Correlia, Public landing pad 9380-1138, **_**Rogue Tanner, 39:4:5**_

Liz knew that if any of her siblings saw her at that particular moment, they would think of Anakin first, then realize it was her. Her hair was pulled back out of her way, and her Padawan Braid was tied up as well; she couldn't afford to have it loose and possibly being caught in machinery.

She was up to her waist in the bowels of the ship, which she had temporarily landed on Correlia so that she could tinker with it. That would have caused another double-take from most of her family. She usually wasn't the one hip-deep in grease with her father; that was Luke or Jaedrea, Julia and occasionally Cedric. He'd never tried to push any of them into any particular way of being, though his preference for machines hardly went unnoticed. When she wanted to get into a machine at home, Artoo was her usual accomplice, and he wasn't about to tell anyone her little secret.

She sighed, wishing the little droid was there, but that was not going to be possible. _"Chikra, tired of this already?"_

"Wanting help, actually."

_"There is a group of Jedi here on Correlia, you know."_

"I want Artoo here. He would be amazing at this particular moment."

_"Did you want to go see if they have the tools you will require?"_

She rubbed ineffectively at her hands with a small rag. "I suppose. This is turning out to be worse than I thought."

_"Excellent. This will be your first Test."_

Her jaw dropped. "I'm not ready!"

_"Who is the Master here, Chikra?"_

She swallowed hard, then bowed her head. "You are."

_"Sentinels have more tests than most Jedi. It will, therefore, take longer for you to take your tests than others, but it is time for this one."_

"Yes, Master."

* * *

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Senior Padawan Lightsaber Training Arena, 39:4:5**

Ash was sparring with some of his fellow Padawans when he saw Anakin walk in with Ahsoka, and he faltered. His Master looked anything but happy, and his eyes flicked around the room, but his presence didn't catch his Master's attention. This lack of attention on Ash's part earned him a stinging blow across his blade arm. He bowed to his partner, conceding the match, and stepped out of the sparring ring.

Nadina, Ahsoka's apprentice, did the same, and the two Padawans they had been sparing against paired up.

"We are leaving for New Ralltiir. Come on," Anakin told the two of them, and turned and started walking out. He and Nadina fell in line with their Masters.

"When?" Ash asked.

Anakin raised his eyebrow at him as he glanced over. "Now. Bags are already on the ship."

"What are we doing?" Nadina asked.

"Hunting Sith."

"That is very dangerous, isn't it, Master Skywalker?"

"Depends on the Sith," he said, and further conversation was made difficult by the fact that Anakin seemed intent on making it hard for them to keep up with him. They arrived at the ship to find Padmé helping Threepio load the bags.

She did not look the part of a Chancellor, her outfit was much more suited to fighting and space travel than senatorial balls and political dealings.

Anakin didn't seem pleased. "What are you doing?"

Padmé just looked at him for a moment then said, "I'm coming with you."

"Don't you have duties in the Senate?"

"No, Bail can take care of that for the moment. I trust him."

"Chancellor, no. You cannot abandon the Senate now," Ahsoka said.

"Considering I've been there once in the last four days, I am just accepting the reality of the situation. Anakin needs me, and you are obviously headed out somewhere. So I will just come with you."

"But what will happen if you get injured?" Ahsoka said, continuing the argument.

"I can very well take care of myself, can I not, Ani?" twenty years had not changed the tone of voice that said he was not going to win an argument.

He felt caught. He knew very well that she could take care of herself against anyone except a Jedi or a Sith, and even then, he wouldn't bet against her. "We are looking for Maul," he said, dodging the question.

"Again? Where do you think he is?"

"New Ralltiir. And I don't think this is a good idea."

"And you would rather me sit here while you go there where Jaedrea and Obi-Wan are and worry? You know me better than that, Ani. What would you say if I told you it was you who had to stay behind while one of our children was in danger?"

"You aren't as young as you used to be."

"Neither are you. Now will you stop arguing with me so we can get aboard the ship and leave?"

"Fine," he said, and stormed up the ramp onto the ship.

Ahsoka ran up after him, and Ash and Nadina followed, while Padmé gave last-minute instructions to Threepio. "Master, you can't be serious. The Chancellor cannot come with us! She's too important to the Republic."

"You tell her that."

"I did."

"And she ignored you, and she ignored me, and she will not be swayed from this course of action. She is a Skywalker. Do you really expect anything less from her?"

Ahsoka sighed. "No, I suppose I should be used to this," she said, and headed toward the back, checking that everything was strapped in as she went. Anakin went directly to the cockpit to begin pre-flight checks.

"Ahsoka?" Ash called out from behind her as he followed her.

"Yes?" she asked, turning to him and giving him a compassionate smile.

"What's wrong with him?"

She frowned then shrugged. "He's Sith hunting."

"He hasn't said two words to me since I got home yesterday."

"And how much have you said to him?"

"Not much," Ash admitted.

"Well, if you have a problem with the way he's treating you, I suggest you take it up with him."

He had been sure that she would say something to that effect. "Yes, Master Tano," he said with a small bow, and he headed after his Master.

When he entered the cockpit, Anakin turned to see who it was. "If Ahsoka has sent you with one of her harebrained schemes, I'm not interested."

"She did not. She simply told me that the answers I seek lie with you."

"You have more patience than I do."

"Master?" Ash asked, puzzled, sitting in the co-pilot's seat and strapping in. Anakin let him take over those duties without a word.

"If I had been in your position, I would have been demanding answers from the moment I landed yesterday."

"Yes, but Master Yoda wanted to speak with me before I went to see you."

Anakin snorted. "That wouldn't have stopped me."

"I know," Ash said, humor coloring his voice. "But I was his last student. I guess I feel he deserves more from me because of that."

"I can understand that," Anakin said. He cleared them for take-off, and angled the ship away from the planet.

"Why did you take me as your Padawan?"

"Where did that question come from?"

"Well, the last week."

"You shouldn't take the last week as any reflection on you."

"Master Yoda said something similar."

"And you didn't believe him for what reason?"

"I didn't think about the idea that you were having problems of your own."

"Everyone has problems, Ash. But that's really no excuse for the way I've been treating you, and I'm sorry."

Ash paused for a moment. "I don't think I've ever heard you apologize to anyone for anything."

"Well, I think things are going to be a lot different in the future, but right now, we need to concentrate on the mission in front of us."

"Which is?"

"Finding Darth Maul, ensuring that he is nullified, permanently if possible. I feel that Jaedrea is in great danger right now."

"So we're going to New Ralltiir?"

"Where Obi-Wan and Jaedrea are working on a treaty of some sort, I think."

Ash snorted, "You think? Why don't you know?"

"I've been a little busy. My ability to keep up with everyone and everything is a little shaky right now."

He was concentrating on flying, the way he always did, putting all of his senses into high gear, tuning out everything except the ship and her rhythms. Ash knew he wouldn't get much more out of his Master until they were in hyperspace, so he tried to think of what direction he wanted to take their conversation.

* * *

* * *

**En route to Coruscant, **_**Bright Hope Ranger, **_**39:4:5**

**En route to Coruscant, **_**Bright Hope Ranger, **_**39:4:5**

Luke woke, and he groaned. He was almost sorry that he could remember everything now, because it had actually been kind of fun, re-discovering his wife and learning new things about her. It was probably better that he did remember, in general, though.

He felt some fatigue, but he pushed through it, evaluating his physical, mental and emotional states. He was on the _Bright Hope Ranger,_ and Mara was there, and Jasmine. Both of them were asleep, which suited his purposes for the moment. He did a quick evaluation on what he remembered, and both sets of memories seemed complete. There was the life with Owen, Beru, Ben and the Alliance, and there was a completely different life, with Mara, Leia, Qui-Gon Jinn and the Jedi Temple.

He wasn't sure how he felt about everything yet, but he knew that he would figure it out eventually. He sighed, opening his eyes, and found himself facing Mara. She was sleeping as she usually did, halfway on top of him. It was a good sign to him, and he brushed the hair away from her face, thinking about how lucky he was to have her. She stirred, and he adjusted himself to a slightly more comfortable position. She wrapped the arm that was over him tighter around his waist. "Mara?" he asked, and she only buried her head into his shoulder as a response. "Sweetheart, I need to talk to you," he said, running his hand down the side of her face.

She was suddenly wide awake. "Luke!" she hugged him fiercely.

"Nice to see you, too, Firecracker," he said. Yes, it was definitely good to remember. "What happened?"

"What do you remember?"

"I was working on my bond with Jasmine," he said after tracking down the appropriate memories. "It happened rather suddenly, then," he shrugged. "I woke up."

"Ok, I should go check on her," Mara said.

"I'm coming, too," he insisted. "I guess I was out for a while," he started, "What happened?"

She glanced at the chrono. "You were out for four hours. Which is what Master Eerin said you would be out for."

They arrived at the door to Jasmine's cabin, and he pressed the override button to allow them in. She was curled up into a ball, which Luke knew to be her preferred position for sleep. "She looks like she's asleep," he told her.

"But she won't wake up," Mara said, and she forcefully shook Jasmine who limply rolled onto her back. He sat down beside Jaz, putting a hand on her forehead, trying to connect to her through their bond, but it was no use. She was there, but asleep. At least it was like sleep. It wasn't exactly restful, as he could attest to himself, but the state didn't seem inherently harmful.

"Did Master Eerin give you any other instructions?"

"If the two of you weren't awake in four hours, to let her know."

"We should do that, then," he said, his concern growing. He was out of Jasmine's cabin and in the cockpit as quickly as he could manage it. "Hi-ny, can you bring us out of hyper so that we can transmit a message to Coruscant?"

Hi-ny beeped and Luke listened. "Yes, I understand that we will be there in less than six hours, but we need to apprise the Master Healer of what has happened." Hi-ny continued his complaints for several moments, but soon the grey of hyperspace was replaced with the twinling darkness of real space.

Mara sat beside him in the co-pilot's chair, and he commed Coruscant. He watched the routing, noting that they were routed directly to the Temple. "Direct routing?"

"Panicked Jedi tend to get noticed," she said quietly.

"Master Healer Eerin," a voice on the other end of the com answered.

"Luke Skywalker here."

"Good, you are awake," she said, "Mara informed me that Jasmine was in this state as well?"

"She is, and she hasn't come out of it."

"That is troubling. Are you having any trouble with your memories?"

"No, I remember everything just fine, why?"

"This happened to Leia yesterday. She was asleep for four hours, but then she woke up, and she could remember, but she seems to be having a little trouble with being able to recall things from both sets of her memories in rapid sequence."

"It may be the lack of training that she received in the other timeline," he suggested. "What about Dad?"

"Ahsoka is working out some theories, but you know how your father is."

"I do. Hi-ny informed me that we will be at the Temple in six hours, allowing for traffic."

"You shouldn't have to. I've got CATC cringing at the sound of my voice at the moment. They will have a wide space cleared for you to come in on."

"Ah. I had wondered why we were routed directly to you," he said.

She laughed. "They don't want to talk to me, but they know that you do. I will thank them for their cooperation when this is all done with."

"Do you feel this is concerning, that Jasmine is still sleeping, for lack of a better term?"

"I'm not sure. If she's not awake by the time the two of you land, then yes, I will feel that it's very concerning. I'm worried that this means she is having direct experience of your memories, since you were working on your bond. No one here thought about how this had come about. It was Leia connecting with Aayla, we think."

"That makes sense in light of this," he said. "She didn't experience this?"

"No, but she's a Master, and Jasmine is barely a Padawan. She's had no experience with her bond at all, since you two were attempting to establish it when this happened, it may be that had she been a bit more experienced she could have closed it off before it affected her."

"We should get back into hyperspace," he said, "The sooner we get there, the better."

"Agreed. I will see you as soon as you are on the ground," Master Eerin said, and then the link was transferred back to the Air Traffic Control office for some rapid fire details from Hi-ny, and then they were back in hyperspace. At some point during his conversation with Master Eerin, Mara's hand had slipped into his.

He brought it up to his mouth, kissing her palm. She smiled at him, relieved. "I am worried," he told her finally.

"Jaz?"

He nodded, pulling her over to his chair, settling her in his lap with his arms around her. "She's so young, I don't know what she will do with my memories."

"Well, I'm sure there are going to be some embarrassing ones," she said, kissing him on the forehead. He blushed, which made her smile.

"Seriously, I'm not even concerned by that. It's what the memories of the other time line will do to her relationship with Dad. I'm not sure she's mature enough to handle even knowing about the things he put us through, let alone seeing them as though they were her own memories."

"Let's hope that's not what's happening to her, for her sake."

His hand had drifted of its own accord to her stomach, and he was feeling out with the Force to his daughter. "Stop that," Mara said, swatting at his hand. "She needs peace and quiet not poking and prodding."

"How do you know," he challenged, "I'm not poking and prodding, anyway."

"You sound so much like your father you scare me sometimes," she told him, and she got up, heading back to the cabins.

"You'd better be heading for a nap," he warned, getting up and following her.

"Overprotective much?"

"I will bring you anything you need, all you have to do is ask. I've missed out on three months of pampering you that I have to make up for."

"Wouldn't you rather sit with Jasmine?"

He turned somber. "I will in a little while. I have a feeling that she will need me when she wakes."

"If I go take a nap will that make you feel better?" she asked him.

"Yes, it will," he told her.

She nodded, and slipped into their cabin while he went into Jasmine's. She'd curled back into a ball, on the other side this time, and he settled in to wait for her to wake. Curious as to why she was sleeping without waking, he let his mind travel down the bond to hers, and he found his memories running in quick succession. He didn't like that, and he frowned. He had not really enjoyed his trip down memory lane, and he didn't want Jasmine taking that trip with him, but he could find no way to interrupt the flow of memories. They weren't coming _from _him, though they were somehow coming _through_ him. But it was something he didn't have any experience with, so he was unable to do anything to prevent it. Had he known it was coming, he thought he probably could have kept the line of memories from jumping to Jasmine, but perhaps this would help her understand. The Force never did things without a reason.

An idea struck him after he had settled in for the wait. _Lelila?_ he called out through the Force, using a nickname that Leia had told him her childhood friends on Alderaan had used.

She fumbled with the link, a product of her troubles with her memories. _Luke? _ he could feel her excitement clearly.

_How are you?_

_Fine. Master Eerin said she would be releasing me very soon, and that she expected to talk to you soon. _

_I've spoken with her, Jasmine got caught up in this._

_Oh, Luke. Do you think she will be all right?_

_I don't know yet. She may not retain much of this, or she may remember all of my memories as though they are her own, or somewhere in between. It's hard to say how this will affect her without knowing how much of it will stick. _

_You're right, Luke, _she told him, and he caught an edge of excitement. _What's going on?_

_Han should be home this week. He'll get to see the twins born, at least so long as they can hold off a day or two more. _

_I thought he was supposed to be on some long negotiations in Seswenna Sector._

_He was, but Master Mundi called them off. I don't have more detail than that, just that he's coming home. _

_I'm happy for you. I am kind of looking forward to getting to know this new Han. _

_Putting a uniform on him doesn't make him NEW, brother dear._

_Well, you know what I mean. He's more drawn into himself, but he's more open at the same time. _

_I know what you mean. He has the bearing of a military officer, but with his usual flair, and he hasn't been hurt as recently in this life. Though I do remember Dad scaring the kriff out of him when Daddy found out about the twins. I was sure I was going to die during that conversation._

Luke laughed_, He was pretty shaken up, too. Dad flew the whole way home, and you know how competitive both of them get about flying. _

_I think that was because he was trying to comfort me. I did not feel ready for twins. I do now, but that's because I've personally led legions of soldiers into battle, and commanded fleets of starships with no one to tell me what I was doing wrong or right. I have the entire Temple at my disposal to help with these two After the Galactic Civil War, these two should be a piece of cake._

_You sound tired, _Luke told her.

_No more than you do. You should sleep._

_Not until Jasmine wakes, and if she's getting both sets of my memories, it might take another four hours for her to get through them. I'm fine._

_Don't push yourself too hard, _she warned. _I would hate to see Master Eerin do something drastic to you. _

_I will be fine until tonight, and then she's probably going to insist that I sleep on the hard beds in the Hall, and after that she should release me. Jasmine, I don't know how long she'll want to keep her, but hopefully not much longer. She will be as unhappy there as any of us._

* * *

**Shiava, Capital city of Shiava, Guesthouses, 39:4:5**

_Breathe,_ Cedric reminded himself. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, sitting up, trying to remember how to breathe. It seemed important, though he couldn't remember why just then. While it might kill him to do so, there was a part of himself that wasn't sure that wasn't a good thing. He shook himself, stopping that train of thought. His dreams had been disturbingly intense, and filled with images of _her._ It made him question how close she was, for his dreams, his very thoughts of her had not been this intense since the first night.

After that, she'd been gone from him, and with good riddance. He had finally gotten his breathing under control, so he stood up, going to the small balcony that had been provided for the use of himself and his Master. He was grateful for it, though it would put him in somewhat closer proximity to Shaak Ti. He didn't want to wake her, for they had delicate negotiations in the morning. The dinner last night had provided that much insight, at least.

He rarely listened to his impulses, because they were usually just that, but he felt the urge to go explore the city, and decided that it might help to clear his head. He used the Force to drop soundlessly from the balcony, and walked through the winding roads of the city, having taken time to glance at a map earlier in the day, he felt reasonably capable of getting back to the guesthouses they were staying in. He still kept track of himself and stayed close. Then on a hill in a small park, he saw her.

She was arched back as though she was a canid howling at the moon, or in terrible pain, but she was beautiful. He could see the moment she sensed his eyes, or his presence. It was like a shock ran through her body, and she coiled slowly, and turned even more slowly toward him. He felt his breath catch as her eyes found him. He knew he should turn around and leave. He knew that he shouldn't be anywhere near her.

He knew he couldn't leave. She was inside him too deeply for that to happen. Haltingly, he walked toward her, and she waited for him. He couldn't see her eyes, eyes that haunted his sleep for their intensity. He was in touching distance when he heard her whisper, "My love."

"Good evening, Sev'rance."

"Still trying for that famous Jedi calm? I can feel the raging emotions inside you."

"My emotions do not control me."

"Really? I would have thought that you would have left if that were the case."

"Not if I am going to save you."

"Save me?" she asked, sounding a little startled, "And what do you think you need to save me from?"

"The darkness that consumes you. I know that there is good within you that struggles for release."

A small smile worked its way onto her lips. "Well, I wouldn't say goodness is the only thing that needs released within me," she said softly, moving a bit closer to him.

Cedric fought the urge to reach out and touch her. She was shorter than he, by a few centimeters now, but he had inherited his father's height, unlike his older brother. He longed to do so much to her, but the possibility was forbidden for a number of reasons. "With time, Sev'rance."

"Is that a promise, lover?" she purred, tracing the nail of one finger down his jaw.

"If you can find your way out of the darkness, yes," he said, not knowing exactly why he was wanting to make such a rash claim to her, but outright saying no to her was not possible for him.

She moved in a way that suggested things he had only imagined, closer to him still. "Perhaps I should bring you back to my room and show you what you are missing."

"That is not going to happen."

She was close enough for him to touch; in fact, it was taking considerable effort not to touch her. "You don't want me?" she asked, her voice was vulnerable, wispy, almost frightened. He could even see a tiny quivering in her bottom lip.

"That is entirely beside the point. You are a Sith, and I am a Jedi. Until that changes, nothing is possible between us."

"I am a woman, and you are a man. It needs to be nothing more complicated than that."

"Sev'rance," he said, taking a deep breath, "I will wait for you to make the decision to leave the Sith. I want you to be a good person. But doing this will only make it harder for you."

He finally reached up to hold her face in his hands, and was surprised to find that her cheeks were wet with tears. "You changed me," she accused him.

"You changed me as well," he told her calmly.

She seemed to take his touch as an indication of permission; she pressed her face into his chest, breathing in the smell of him, and he let her. He wrapped his arms around her, wanting to comfort her when she seemed so vulnerable. "We have both changed, but still we are too far apart to be anything more than the barest of acquaintances, lover?"

"That is all that is possible until you renounce the Sith," he said firmly, though he could feel some of his resolve wavering.

"Do you love me?"

"That is irrelevant."

"Is it? If I said that I loved you would that make no difference to you at all?"

"Do you love me?"

"I can find no other word for the burning pain of being separated from you."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Are you a man or a statue? I tell you that I love you, I can't be without you any more, and you only ask more of your questions. Always questions for you, isn't it, my love?"

"My quest for knowledge is one of my few remaining joys."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Renounce the Sith. Master Ti is here, she would be able to place you into custody. You would need to cooperate though."

"You want me to give myself up as part of this whole deal?"

"Of course. Saying that you have renounced the Sith is not enough; you will have to prove yourself to the Jedi. I know there is goodness within you, kindness that you do not know how to express. Let me help you. Let us help you."

"But what of us?"

"I am still a Padawan. I am forbidden marriage and relationships until I am Knighted. But once I am Knighted, it would be possible for us to be together."

"Would you not come see me during this time where I am proving myself?"

"I would help you with your rehabilitation, yes."

"Being Sith is not a disease," she told him disdainfully.

"No, but being a sociopath is, and that is something that being Sith teaches."

"What do you know of Sith teachings?"

"Less than I need to," he said with a grimace. He realized something then, "It is the same with you, isn't it? You only know of the world beyond being a Sith through memories you have acquired from me."

"It is where some of my confusion comes from, yes."

"Did you seek me out?"

"No. I have business here. That you were here is incidental."

"What kind of business do you have here?"

"Securing the final transport that will be coming by way of this planet for my Master's pet project."

"Pet project?" he inquired, though he didn't expect an answer. He wasn't prepared to push the issue, though he probably could have.

"Nothing interesting, really. It was one of the things that his Master left for him to do. Those crop up occasionally. His Master knew that he was going to die, and left him a holocron."

Cedric nodded. She was saying more than she probably ought to, if she wasn't going to come with him, but it gave him faith that he could eventually wear her defenses down to where she would listen to him. "If he knew that he was going to die, why didn't he leave?"

She shrugged. "I'm not allowed to touch it, the holocron, I mean. I don't know what information Maul gets from his Master."

"I see," he said, and she turned her face up to him. He was a little concerned by her appearance. Beneath the blue tone of her skin, there were circles under her eyes, as though she didn't sleep well anymore. He also noticed worry lines that looked like they had permanently creased themselves into her forehead and around her eyes. He rubbed his thumb across the worst of them. "You shouldn't worry so much."

"How can I not?"

"Come back with me," he whispered to her.

"That is not the solution to my problems."

"It's not meant to be. It is meant to be the way that you can be with me the way that you want."

"Cedric," she said, using his name softly, "Things are not as easy as you might think."

"I know what you and your master have been doing; the dissolution of trade between the Outer Rim and the Core, inciting violence, stoking the fires of war."

"You alone know this?"

"No, but I am the one to figure it out."

"With my memories?"

"No, because I'm sick of trying to negotiate trade agreements."

"You are clever, my love. I do not need to tell you that my part in this little mission of _his_ is only incidental."

"I try to not put myself in your memories."

"Would you think it strange if I said I did the same?"

He shook his head. "It is disconcerting."

She moved a hand to his chest, resting it there lightly, and she moved closer to him, and he swallowed hard as he realized she meant to kiss him. Part of him wanted it, a large part. She enthralled him in ways he was only beginning to realize. "No," he said before she could complete the move.

She looked angry. "I cannot even have a small kiss from you?"

"You know why. It will not be a small kiss for long."

"It has been a year."

"A year? Since it happened, yes. It's been a year."

"Since I've been…" she struggled for the word she wanted. It seemed that while it was related to what had happened that wasn't what she was referring to. "It's been a year since I have been with someone."

He stepped back a little. He hadn't considered that the previous year had been as emotionally wrenching for her as it had been for him. That when he had been feeling like looking at another woman was cheating on _her,_ she had been feeling something very similar. "I know," he said softly. "But that doesn't change what is allowed, unless you want to rethink being a Sith."

Her kiss caught him by surprise this time, and he couldn't find the will power to push her away. So he kissed her. He kissed her roughly, because he knew that she liked it a little rough, even if she didn't realize that herself. He moved his mouth off hers, down her chin, jaw line, and throat, then pulled back.

"I thought I told you no."

"I will consider what you have offered me, though it is truly not yours to offer," she told him contritely.

"The Council is compassionate. They will understand that you have changed. I can make them see."

"What about your father? He harbors much resentment for the Sith."

"I wouldn't worry about that. It's personal between Dad and Maul."

"Why?"

"It goes back to when Dad was still on Tatooine; Darth Maul was there chasing Mom, but he ended up fighting Master Jinn and Dad. That's how Dad lost his arm."

"Your father lost his arm?"

"Master Obi-Wan tells the story; Dad says he doesn't remember what happened, how he did what he did."

"What did he do?"

"He fought off Darth Maul singlehandedly with Qui-Gon's lightsaber."

"When was this?"

"Before he became Uncle Obi-Wan's Padawan, before they even met, actually. That was the first time he saw Dad, unconscious, on the sands of Tatooine. Darth Maul ran after Dad cut his hand off. He was nine, I'm pretty sure."

Her eyes widened. "_That's_ how he lost his hand?"

"As far as I know."

"No wonder he never told me."

"I would imagine not. Would you admit that an untrained nine-year-old slave boy had seriously injured you?"

"No. But then again, I don't think I would let a nine-year-old defeat me. But you father is not known as being a very forgiving person. Will he accept that this is what your destiny is?"

"I don't know. Before we left, something happened, something big. Master Ti won't talk about it, and neither will Dad. I can sense a strange difference in him now. Before I would have said he could listen to reason and would try not to let his prejudices affect his actions. Now, though, I don't know. I would like to say he wouldn't have changed in that respect."

"You are uncertain of him?"

"As I said, something big happened. It's not something I can define."

"When you figure it out, then you can explain it to me?"

"Depends on what it is. Perhaps. If you decided to come with me, you might be able to help me figure it out."

"Tempting, lover, tempting. I think not, though. I don't want to risk being run through with a lightsaber because your father lost his temper in my vicinity."

"Dad's not really like that. I think you would like him."

"I might. You know, you could just run away with me instead."

"No."

"No rules to say that we can't be together any longer, and the two of us could overthrow Maul, kill him."

"What about our children?" he asked, and the stricken hurt look was the last thing he expected.

"I can't have children anymore, Cedric," she said coldly. "Search through the memories you have from me if you want to know why."

"But, I've seen it," he told her. "I know that it is possible."

"You have seen a lie, then."

"No," he said, and he pulled her into his arms. "It is possible."

She didn't resist him anymore. He didn't know if it was a flicker of hope or if it was that she was tired of fighting him. She let him hold her for a long time, then she turned within his embrace and kissed him again.

As her lips touched his, he had a flash vision of Zeret again. Of their son dying. "No," he said, pressing her back.

"Something is wrong?" she asked, concerned by the look on his face, he was sure.

"I can't. I can't do this, not unless you have agreed to come to the Temple."

"What has frightened you so much? In such a short period?"

"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not talk about it."

"No, Cedric, I cannot let this pass. You are afraid, and I need to know why."

"I told you that it was possible to have a child because I have had dreams of that child, dreams that were more than just dreams, but portents of the future."

"And? That is not something to be frightened of."

"I see him, and he's dying in my arms on the blade of Darth Maul."

She said nothing for a time, then finally, "Seeing the future is chancy business. Just knowing of the possibility can invalidate something."

"It can also bring it about."

She tilted her head, conceding the point. "Why do you bring this up now, and you didn't before?"

"I think that the Force is warning me that if we did as you wish, he would be conceived this night. And he will be dead within the year."

She didn't seem to have an answer for that. "If you feel that strongly about this, perhaps you should run home to your Master," she said, her words full of bitter anguish.

"I do not need to run away from you, or from this. It cannot happen tonight, though."

His determined resolve seemed to soften her. "It is certainly difficult to try and have a relationship with you, Skywalker."

"You are making it more difficult than it has to be."

"You have no idea what you are asking of me."

"I have some idea, but you also know that what you ask is against what I have been taught."

"Perhaps what you have been taught is wrong."

"I think it more likely that what you were taught is wrong. Did you not question the rightness of what was happening to you when it was happening?"

She shrugged uncomfortably. "Sometimes we do what is necessary to survive."

"Would you not like to do more than survive? You can if you just come with me."

"But you cannot guarantee my safety, can you?"

"I can guarantee that you will be given the same chance as any other person entering the Temple with someone to vouch for them. It happens occasionally that we don't find someone until they reach adulthood."

"Are you saying I could be just another Jedi?"

"No," he told her, amused, "You could be just another Skywalker, though, if you wanted."

"It would be nice, but I think you are dreaming more than knowing what reality will be."

* * *

* * *

**En route to Coruscant, **_**Bright Hope Ranger,**_** 39:4:5**

Jasmine woke up and immediately threw herself into her Master's arms. He was there, waiting for her to wake, and he comforted her. He had been right when he told her that explaining what was wrong didn't do it justice. She felt much the way he had just after Bespin, though there would be people who would understand what she was going through—Luke, Leia, their father. Luke had been totally alone, or so he'd thought.

Leia had been there with him, comforting him in ways he hadn't fully grasped until Master Yoda had told him that he wasn't the only Skywalker out there. That he knew and understood made it more bearable, but that didn't make what she was feeling any less painful.

"Hey," he said as she released her death grip on his neck. "You want to talk about it?" She shook her head. "We are going to land on Coruscant in about twenty minutes. Did you want to come sit in the cockpit with me and Mara?"

"Yeah," she agreed, "That would be ok."

"Then we're both going to the Healers to talk to Bant. She's really worried about this."

"Has this happened ever before?"

He shrugged, "Not that I know about."

She nodded and got up, following him to the cockpit and strapping in. Coruscant filled the cockpit's glass already, and they were closing in on home.

* * *

* * *

**New Ralltiir, Governmental Palace, Guest Quarters, 39:4:5**

Jaedrea woke up, and decided after a few minutes that her head was unusually foggy. She sat up and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, then glanced at the chrono. It was nearly seven. She frowned and watched it long enough to see it flip to the next minute.

She blinked a couple of times, then decided to see why she was waking up so late, and she felt along her link with Obi-Wan. That, she decided, was even fuzzier than her mind was in general, but she had been doing it for over three years, so it was a familiar enough thing she could do it even through the fog. _Master?_

He did something, cleared some of the fuzziness away somehow. _Where are you, Jaedrea?_

_My room? _she told him hesitantly. He didn't sound angry, only worried. He didn't often just use her first name unless something was wrong, and that was strange. If her head had been less foggy, she would have analyzed those thoughts, but she only had the capacity to focus on one thing at a time right then.

_Come out, please._ he told her, and then the link with him was cut. She realized after she drifted mentally for a moment that he had cut the communication with her because he was done with what he had to say. He wasn't happy, and when that happened, it usually meant some sort of punishment for her, and it would be worse if she wasn't snappy about what he wanted done.

She didn't bother getting dressed, she just scrambled out of bed and rushed over to the door, going out into the hallway. She looked around for Obi-Wan, but he wasn't there that she could see. She walked down the hall five doors, and chimed the door, but no one answered.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Healer's Hall, 39:4:5**

Celia watched as Bant spoke with Luke and a very ragged looking Jasmine. Come to think of it, Luke didn't look all that good himself. "Come on, Celia," Stass Allie, her Master, said from behind her.

"What is going on with Jasmine?" she asked as she returned to her work.

"We're not entirely sure, that's why she's talking with Bant. If Ahsoka were here, I would say she would be talking to them as well."

"Ahsoka's not here? I just saw her this morning, and she didn't say anything about leaving."

"She left when Master Skywalker left."

"When was this, and why didn't he say anything?"

"I don't know. Sometime between Leia getting released and about an hour ago when I checked my messages."

Celia sighed. It was rather unusual for her father to take off without informing her and whichever of her siblings were on-planet. "He didn't tell me."

"I don't think he told much of anyone."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "Pay attention, young one, you need to worry less about others and more about what you are doing."

"Yes, Master," she said, and tried to block the wayward thoughts from her consciousness.


	12. Chapter 11

**_AN: Yay, another chapter, finally. Hopefully, I haven't lost all my readers by the big RL interferences with my writing. If you haven't checked out the two new chapters of Interim that I have put up. Some of it is referenced here.  
_**

**Serious Starwars Fan: Updating now**

Shinen no Hikari: I will take your comments into consideration if I ever work on improving YS (as you've put up a number of comments since I last posted) Yes, Corran Halcyon is Third gen, but Nejaa was raised on Corellia, and Val didn't become a Jedi. Luke has his own lightsaber. That he built. With his own hands. Galen most likely suffered the same fate as in canon. Sorry if I can't get into specifics, as I haven't read the source material. Implying that Aayla _was_ in some way involved with Quin, who was her Master, is not the same thing as implying that she _is_ involved with him. And pointing out canon on a fic that had a Galaxy changing event 36 years prior to the story that is being written is less than useful. Sometimes it is, but the ripples from the Massacre in the Senate cannot be underestimated. But thank you for reading and your comments to SotS and YS were all entertianing to read, sorry I haven't gotten back to you sooner.

**Leyte: The whole Skywalker family is at the forefront of the Jedi's publicity, and have been for years. Luke has his own nickname, following, etc. **

full0fgrace:Editing is more time-consuming than writing, but this is almost at the point of being a totally different story.

**Flint02, **JadeAlmasy, **BooM, **Jedi Angel001, **ilovenat1995**: **Thanks!**

**darth shoto: Glad you're reading, and thank you for pointing out that I'm not doing enough with Julia. While she doesn't have a big role this chapter, I think that she will have a nice surprise next chapter.**

general-joseph-dickson:Thank you for your colorful thoughts. Jasmine has been properly embarrassed and will probably not talk to me for a week. *sigh*

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Healer's Hall, 39:4:5 **

Luke sighed in the very back of his mind at Jasmine's question. She was almost as bad as their father was. "Do I have to stay in the Healer's? Can't I just go home and promise to be good?"

"I'm stuck here too, Little Bit," he answered her calmly. It was getting very late in the standard day, and though he'd been asleep through more of it than he usually did, he still felt tired.

Luke watched as Julia walked up to the door, more tentative than normal, but of course he didn't have any clue as to what she'd been told.

"Is it ok for me to come in?" she asked.

"Yes, there's nothing wrong with us."

She didn't look entirely as though she believed that. "Why are you here then?"

"We both passed out, so Bant probably wants to keep us for observation. She should let us go in the morning, barring any problems."

"Does this have anything to do with Leia passing out yesterday?"

"Probably," he said, "What do you know about that?"

"Just that it happened, after I was at school already. By the time I was out of school, it was already over, and she stayed here overnight."

"So, we should be out of here pretty early tomorrow morning. Don't worry too much about it."

"Alright," she agreed. "We can talk tomorrow before I get picked up?"

"Sure," Jasmine agreed readily, but then was caught off guard by a big yawn. "Maybe I should go to sleep?"

"I'll go, I don't want to keep you up," Julia said.

"Good night, Wings," Luke said, and she flashed a smile at him as she breezed out the door.

"Am I allowed to talk to her about this, Master?" Jasmine asked.

"Good question, Little Bit. I had planned on asking Dad what he thought, but he's off planet. I don't see that there's anything in particular that you can't tell Julia, eventually the whole family will probably know most everything. We just don't need to go shouting it from the rooftops."

"Ok."

Bant walked in then. "Since you'll be staying here tonight for observation where would you like to be: in separate rooms, or in the same?" she asked them.

"The same room, Master Eerin," Luke and Jasmine said simultaneously, causing Leia and Jasmine to giggle.

"We can go home tomorrow, right?"

"We'll see what we can do," Master Eerin told her. "I'd like to speak with you for a moment before you go to sleep, if you don't mind, Luke. It shouldn't take long," she said.

"Sure," he agreed, "I'll be right back," he promised Jasmine, and they left. Bant signaled one of the younger initiates working there that she wanted the bed made up for him.

He followed her as they entered her office. She sat, and motioned to another chair. He sat down facing her, wondering what she wanted. Bant Eerin never did anything without purpose. "Has Jasmine tried to talk to you yet about what happened?"

"No," he said, "It concerns me a little bit, but there isn't anything that I can do about what's happened. However I imagine that she will adjust. I did, and I actually lived it."

"How is your bond?"

"It seems to be in place, and completely functional."

"Good. Have you noticed anything unusual?"

"No. Nothing with the bond. She's been a bit more reserved since she woke up, though. Truthfully, she's handling it better than I expected."

Bant nodded. "I'm keeping you both overnight, but I have some instructions for you."

"I'm not going to like these, am I?"

"Probably not, but I don't want you to push her into talking about your memories. Not yet."

"I understand. What if she starts?"

"Then by all means, let her. This is unprecedented, Luke. I'm not concerned that she's not speaking about it, yet. But she's always been such a quiet child, I don't want her totally clamming up."

"It's one of the things I will be focusing on during her time with me."

Bant thought about it for a moment. "You are going to try to change her?"

"I am going to try to bring out the backbone I know she has, and I'm not going to let her hide behind other people. She can't be as timid as she has been and still be a Jedi."

"Agreed," Bant agreed. "I just hope the Galaxy is ready for a more forceful version of Jasmine."

Luke chuckled, "I'm looking forward to bringing her out of her shell, I know I can do that."

"Ok. Just make sure that force is in a productive direction, Anakin was as stubborn as a herd of rancors."

"She's got a double dose that in her somewhere, too. You've seen Mom in an argument, they're a well matched pair, you know."

"Yes, the Chancellor is as much of a Skywalker as the rest of you lot," Bant said with a twinkle in her eye, "And you all work very hard to outdo each other in some way or another."

"I just hope I'm up to these tasks," he said.

"Referring to your soon-to-be state of father?" she said, reading him easily. "You'll be fine, Luke, both as a Master and a father. You aren't saying anything your own father didn't say when he was in your position, though he'd managed to spread out training a Padawan and 'fresher training."

Luke nodded in agreement, and went back to the room he'd be sharing with Jasmine for the night.

* * *

* * *

* * *

**Shiava, Shiava, Guesthouses, 39:4:5**

Shaak Ti answered her com link. It was early even by the standards of Shiava, though she had been up for a little bit. "Master Ti here."

"This is Master Mundi," said a familiar voice on the other end of the line.

"Ah, Master Mundi," she said with a smile on her face. "To what do I owe the pleasure? I thought you were on Eriadu."

"I am and my pilot has come across some very troubling news. I thought you should know. We have found evidence of rampant slavery here."

"Do the authorities know about this?"

"I don't doubt it. Captain Solo has a penchant for small, out-of-the-way places when he goes off-planet, and he never really looks the part of an Officer in the Republic Navy unless he actually needs to. I think he only wears his uniform on Coruscant because he must."

"What do you intend to do about this?"

"As I said I suspect the authorities know what is going on, therefore I intend to extradite this slave so that he may address the Senate. I hope I am wrong, but if I'm not we might be looking at a break from the Republic. A civil war, perhaps."

"Why would you expect trouble?"

"I asked Han to bring the young slave boy he's befriended with us. We will be leaving sometime today. "

"You aren't finishing your negotiation?"

"This takes precedent, so yes, I am leaving without finishing these negotiations. So, the crux of the matter is that you should be on the lookout for slaves, and you may be called home. The whole sector may be closed off while this is investigated."

"My thanks for the advanced warning. My Padawan has been up to his ears in something that looks to be interesting, if not relevant."

"What's that?"

"It started with analysis of why the last three missions we've been on have been trade negotiations."

"So, he is looking at all Jedi missions?"

"For the last fifty years. Statistical data only of course."

"Of course. You might also look at success/failure rates and where successes and where failures occurred. that might prove interesting and potentially more relevant."

"I think it might, thank you, Master Mundi. I will gather that information today and pass it on to my Padawan. Do you really think it will come to war?"

"The galaxy was headed in this direction before," Mundi said seriously, with a little emphasis on his last word. "It's not impossible."

Shaak Ti frowned. "It's not, but that doesn't make me happy to think. War is rather extreme, and wasn't that the purpose?"

"We've never known the purpose."

"Is there anything else that I need to be aware of?"

"I think that is all, for the moment. I will be in touch before we leave, and we should be back on Coruscant by tomorrow afternoon."

"Very well," Shaak Ti said. "I shall speak with you later today."

* * *

* * *

* * *

**New Ralltiir, Governmental Palace, Guest Quarters, 39:4:5**

Maul watched from a hiding place secreted on the third floor of the building as Kenobi collected his newest protégée. She didn't consciously remember her encounter with him, but it had still left her shaking and afraid of every shadow. Was this truly her first encounter with something so dark? Even at nine and barely joined up with Jinn and Kenobi, the wretched little slave-boy-turned-Jedi hadn't feared him. But his daughter, she knew that he could invade her mind and strip her of everything that she knew and loved. He had already planted the seeds, they just had to ripen, and then the fruit of his work would be exceedingly sweet.

He returned his attention to his more immediate goal of having Teriolt, odious toad though he was, interfere with the negotiations even more than he already had. He made quick time getting to the first floor alcove he'd instructed his pawn to meet him at, and, somewhat surprisingly, he was there, and reasonably clean. "This is so amazing, Jeres. We are getting everything that we could possibly want and more out of the negotiations. I don't know how to thank you."

"If they are this interested in keeping you in the contract, perhaps these contracts need to be renegotiated more often. You should tell your Negotiator Designate that he should only negotiate for one year."

"One year contract? Why? We'll just be doing this again in four or five months' time. It seems like an awful waste."

"But the political situation on the Outer Rim is more precarious than it appears on the surface. You may find yourself on the other side of a battlefield from Coruscant in a year's time."

"What if we don't?"

"That is what we all hope for, Teriolt," he said congenially, "But in your best interest, I think you should know these things. You will tell the Negotiator of this new idea of yours?" he asked, and there was enough push with the Force to plant the implied suggestion into the pawn's head.

"Of course, Jeres, I will tell the Negotiator Designate that I think the political situation is unstable enough that he should try to reduce the contract length to one year."

"If you think that is best. I must be on my way, but let me know how the negotiations go tonight will you?"

"Of course. You've been the best sounding board for ideas that I've had in a long time."

* * *

* * *

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Healer's Hall, 39:4:5**

Jasmine woke up, her breath coming in ragged waves, remnants of nightmares that were not her own still clear in her mind. Luke was there already, holding her. There were not words for how grateful she was to have him here with her. "Hey, shh, it's ok," he said, comforting her.

Jasmine waited until she was sure of her voice to speak. "How did you do it, Master Luke?" she asked finally.

"What do you mean?"

"Daddy had Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen killed, he killed Uncle Obi-Wan in front of you. He hurt Han and Leia, and he took off your hand. How do you live with the idea that your father has done everything that's really hurt you in your whole life and not let it kill you inside?"

He sighed he didn't want to tell her the truth, but as her Master he owed it to her. "I broke, when I first found out. You have that memory. Of course it's smoothed over by time, not as sharp as it was when it was actually happening. I wanted to die. I denied the truth, even though I KNEW it was true."

She nodded and asked, "How did you recover from that?"

"In many ways I never did," he said, comforting her. "It isn't a pain I would wish on anyone, much less you."

"You don't think that if it had been someone else that this wouldn't have happened?" she asked. He laid down on the bed, and she curled up comfortably, facing him.

"I'm sure that it would have happened no matter who it had been."

"But it didn't happen to Master Secura."

"Because she's a Master. I meant for anyone who would have been in your position. Any Padawan would have experienced the same thing as you. But I wouldn't want anyone else as my Padawan, and I am very proud of how you've held up under all this. I know that things were bad with Vader, and the Rebellion. If you want to talk more about it, I'm here."

"No," she said, "I think I need to take this in small bits."

"Are you having any difficulty telling my memories from yours?"

"No, your memories have a very distinct flavor to them. They aren't getting mixed up with mine, and I can think without them interfering with things, but, I don't know how to explain it to you. I can see them at a kind of distance that I don't have with my own memories."

"That's good," he told her, "I think that you should take time to get yourself settled before we go much further with your training. Maybe even take some time off school if you'd like."

"I don't know, Master. I don't want to fall behind in my studies."

"We don't have to decide right now how to proceed," Luke said. "We can just take it slowly, you know."

"Yes, Master," she said with a yawn, and drifted back off to sleep.

* * *

* * *

* * *

**En route to New Ralltiir, **_**Burgeoning Thunder, **_**39:4:5**

Anakin watched as the mottled gray of hyperspace appeared before him. He was sure that Ash had been plotting to ask him some unanswerable question, and he was just as sure that he didn't have the least idea what to do about it. Snips had never been that bothersome as his Padawan, and had been willing to jump in with both feet right behind him, but he got the impression that Ash just wasn't that kind of Jedi, that he wasn't that kind of person.

"Why is Darth Maul going after Jaedrea now?"

Anakin sat back in thought for a few moments. "I don't know," he said. "What do you think?"

Ash was quiet, sitting in thought. "This isn't part of his normal habits; he goes after you on occasion, but it's sporadic, as though he only does it when it doesn't interfere with other plans. He is usually already somewhere when someone catches him, or we get a report and you go out after him. The couple of times that you've been busy with something else and the Council didn't wait for you and sent someone else that someone else ended up dead. Perhaps this is just a target of opportunity."

Anakin frowned at the thought. "So, then to fit this in with his larger pattern, with the assumption that he was already on the ground on New Ralltiir, or at least had his fingers in the soup there, and is going after Jaedrea because she will be the easier target."

"That is a possibility, Master."

"Do you have any other theories?"

"Perhaps this is a deviation in his habits, perhaps whatever he is planning has moved into another phase."

"What makes you think he's planning anything in particular?"

"He's a Sith?"

"You need to do better than that; not all Sith are good planners, nor do all of them do grandiose things."

"Master," Ash said, his voice taking on the same patient-but-tried tone he usually only got out of Padmé. "You yourself told me that Sith are always planning their next acquisition before they even finish the one they currently have their sights set on."

"Perhaps," he said, "But then again, shouldn't you also try to figure out for yourself why the Sith do what they do, and not take the easiest route to an answer?"

"They do it because they are Sith. Each one views the tenets of the Sith differently, but they all seek one thing."

"Power," Anakin breathed out, "Yes, I know."

"Does the thought of him using Jaedrea to gain power bother you that much, Master?"

He considered how he should answer that question. He had really had no problem when it had been Luke who was a pawn in the game between Master and Apprentice, but when Leia had become involved, he couldn't deal with the flood of emotion that had come with that piece of knowledge. In some ways, the old adage was right: knowledge was power. Knowledge of Leia had given him the power to save Luke, and in turn had given him the current headache of trying to live a life where he had never been a Sith Lord, all the while only having had four weeks to adjust to the fact that he was, in fact, the Jedi he had been born to become. "I think I would feel the same way no matter which of my children he was causing harm to. But Jaedrea is only thirteen, and that makes her more vulnerable."

"Yet you were nine when you first fought him."

Anakin was silent for a moment, knowing the truth now and not knowing exactly how to approach the subject. Anakin knew that now was about the best time that he was going to find to speak with Ash about his situation. and he now knew the truth of how he'd fought Darth Maul at age nine. And Ash seemed to be waiting patiently for some normal response from Anakin, but he had no idea what a normal response would have been. "There's more to that story than you probably know," Anakin said, then dismissed the idea. He didn't know the first thing about Ash or how he would react to things as they were. "But perhaps that is a story for another time."

"What is wrong with right now, Master?"

He frowned, and, not coming up with a good reason, said, "Nothing, really."

"Master Yoda told me that things were going to be different yesterday when I got home from going out to Garos IV, and we haven't had a chance to talk since I got home. There is nothing happening for the next twelve hours except a couple of vector changes, but that won't take long, and you can do them in your sleep anyway. I understand you being worried about Leia, and spending most of the day with her at the Healer's yesterday, but that was yesterday, and she's fine. I need to understand what's going on."

Anakin sighed, looking to the ceiling. "This is complicated," he started, trying to stall, but this was his Padawan. He should be able to trust that he wouldn't choose someone who wouldn't be able to handle complicated Skywalker problems. "But I probably don't have to tell you that."

"No, Master. It is always complicated, you wouldn't be a Skywalker otherwise."

"And it won't be easy for me to tell you these things, but I suppose I should, in all fairness, tell you why things are not exactly as they should be right now," he said, and gave Ash a brief outline of what had happened in the past.

Ash sat back for a moment before asking his first question. "So why did all this happen?"

"No one knows."

"Do you think something like this could happen again?"

"I don't know, but it would probably be something very rare if it did happen more than once."

"I wonder if there would be a way to harness this."

"I don't think that anyone should be mucking about in the past; it is quite difficult to wake up one day and be a completely different person than you were the day previous."

"You are probably correct, Master. It makes me wonder about how immutable the past actually is, though. Something like this could be important to the theories about the way that time flows."

"Yes, but I think that the idea that one Sith traveling back in time to eliminate another would be something that the Temple doesn't really want going around. I imagine the public is already wary of the Sith as it is, and the thought that they can travel back in time would cause a mass hysteria."

"You might be right, Master. But is that why the Council kept it secret? Or was it to prevent any sort of paradox?"

"Hmm," Anakin thought for a moment. Ash could certainly get him thinking in a different way than he had been before. He smiled. "No, this entire reality supplanted the previous one. At least as far as we can tell."

"We shall have to ask them. I asked Master Yoda a question that he didn't answer, but he said that I should ask you, which is only right, as you should have the answer."

"Out with it," Anakin said to Ash's equivocating.

"Why did you take me as your Padawan?"

"Well, I can't tell you my reasons for having done it when I did, but I can already tell you that you are quick on your feet, readily accepting and adapting to a situation, and one of the more important parts of a Master-Padawan relationship, you can put up with what the Force sees fit to throw our way."

"I had never really thought of it that way, Master. I always felt quite honored that I could train with you, and that it was my duty to keep up, if you will."

Anakin nodded. "It isn't easy to keep up with me. I should know, I've had to keep up with me for years."

Ash laughed, which was the intention. "I wonder if the Force will also see fit to give you back your proper memories."

Anakin thought for a minute. "I suppose it will, when I allow for it. Luke and Leia both have their memories back."

"Don't you want your memories back?"

"I don't know if I'm ready to deal with that on top of everything else right now. It would make some things easier, but there are things that it will make more difficult."

"Punishing yourself for things that, as you said yourself, were supplanted by the reality in which you now reside, is rather a strange way to go about doing things, don't you think?"

Anakin couldn't tell Ash that he was wrong, because, at least from an outsider's perspective, that was exactly what he was doing. "I suppose I understand that you see it that way."

"Do you think that Leia and Luke would see it that way?"

"Perhaps, but I haven't had a chance to discuss it with Luke yet."

"This is the emergency that brought him in from Ilum?"

"Yes."

"We couldn't have waited until they got in?"

The idea left a bad taste in Anakin's mouth, as though he'd already waited too long. "No. I don't think that would have helped things."

"Because of what's going on with Jaedrea?"

"I don't have any idea right now. At least not the 'why.' The 'where,' 'who,' and 'when' are fairly clear."

"You need to cut yourself a bit of slack, Master. And consider what it will take to get your memory back, and whether you can afford not to have it, either when we land on New Ralltiir or in general."

* * *

* * *

* * *

**New Ralltiir, Governmental Palace, Guest Quarters, 39:4:5**  
Jaedrea turned as she heard her Master's voice. "What are you doing up there?"

She shrugged, not having an answer, and she headed for the stairs. She had somehow gotten onto the second floor without remembering leaving her room, which wasn't good. He would have looked serene to anyone who didn't know him, but he had been the second or third person to hold her after she was born. She had known him as long as she'd been alive, felt his presence in the Force from the time she could feel such things, long before she'd been born. He had been training Mara by that point, but it hadn't kept her from claiming her place as his next Padawan. Of course he knew her just as well as she knew him, and despite the outward appearance of a calm Padawan, he could tell that this had shaken her. "We have meetings to go to, young one, go get dressed."

"Yes, Master," she bowed to him, and headed for the room she'd insisted she needed, closer to him. She didn't even ask about packing her bags. She knew that they would be sleeping on the ship that night.

Once she was dressed and had packed her bags, she headed back out into the foyer. "Do I need my bags? Or will we take them back to the ship later?"

"Later. After lunch. We will be having visitors for lunch, anyway."

"Visitors? Who?"

"Your father, Ahsoka. Probably Ash and Nadina."

"Probably?"

"He didn't say, but I assume that they are coming. In the mean time, we have other things to be doing."

"Yes, Master."

* * *

* * *

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Healer's Hall, 39:4:6**  
It was morning, early. Leia got up at her usual time for morning meditation, but instead of going to see her Master, she went to see her brother. She walked into the Healer's tentatively, and was almost immediately greeted by one of the young trainees. "Senior Padawan Skywalker," said Arrel.

"Hello, I was wondering if I could see my brother?"

"He's with Jasmine," she informed Leia. "This way."

She followed to one of the many rooms that the Healers kept for patients. Luke looked up as the door opened, and got up to hug her.

"Hey," she said quietly from the doorway as he headed toward her. The only thing that would have kept him from Jasmine's side would have been them sedating him, and even then it would have been even odds as to whether he would fight through the drugs.

"Hey," he greeted as he hugged her.

"How is she?" she asked as she sat in a chair near the bed her youngest sister was laying on. He sat back in the other bed, he'd been sitting on it when she came in.

"Still sleeping. I think Master Eerin gave her something. She woke up last night with a nightmare."

"I don't doubt she needed it. She took a pretty big shock."

"Where's Dad?"

She shrugged. "He took off. Mom's with him, Ash, Ahsoka."

He nodded. "I can't always tell where Mom is. It's good that he didn't take off alone. Do you know where they are going?"

"They didn't say. Mom left instructions with Threepio, but those didn't include information as to where they were going."

Luke chuckled softly, "Poor Threepio."

"Well, Liz is off with recruitment, Cedric is out in the Seswenna Sector somewhere, and Jaedrea is on New Ralltiir, which make for an extremely cranky droid. He's convinced without him to keep them out of trouble that they'll come to some, and I quote, 'terrible misfortune'," she said with a chuckle.

"Which leaves Julia and Celia at home?" Luke asked, and she nodded. He closed his eyes, drawing slightly on the Force. "Something's wrong...Celia should be here," he opened his eyes, "I think I'm going to call Cedric and see if he knows anything."

Leia frowned, taking a moment to contact the Force, "Do you sense anything?"

"Nothing definite, that's why I want to talk to Cedric, she might have told him something that she didn't tell the rest of us," Luke replied

"Ok, in that case we'll just go about our day."

At that moment Jasmine chose to stir, "Can I go home now? I want to get started on my lightsaber."

Luke hid a smirk, and said, "It seems our youngest sibling has a very one track mind."

"Have no idea where she gets it from, either," Leia said, sharing Luke's mirth.

"Am I going to have to ask Bant or are you, Master Skywalker?" Jasmine said.

"Oh, no, the cheekiness of a Padawan named Skywalker rears its ugly head, what ever am I to do?" Luke said with mock mortification sending Jasmine into peals of much-needed laughter.

* * *

* * *

* * *

**Coruscant, Galactic City, Lower Levels, Abandoned warehousing facility, 39:4:6**

Celia walked with a confidence she didn't truly feel in the lower levels of Coruscant. But that was how she expected to survive. That and no one should have known that she would be out here this early. But she'd found that once she talked to the prosecutor about Reland rolling on his bosses for a reduced sentence, they had been more than helpful. And, in turn, Reland had told her about this little meeting that was going to get Lett, a scumbag who had little to offer the world other than the services he could provide on Kessel, into enough trouble that he would probably spend the rest of his life there.

Celia palmed the holorecorder that she'd brought with her to provide irrefutable evidence of what had gone on. It turned on quietly, and she placed it in an out-of-the-way place that afforded a very good view of the area. She secreted herself not too far away, and waited.

Fortunately, she didn't have to wait long, as the Rodian, Lett, came in from one direction and another being came in from the opposite direction. The Rodian carried a case of drugs, which he opened for the other to examine, and the camera was able to pick up the contents from the position she'd placed it in. The other, a Balosar female, handed over a number of cred sticks. With the deal done and on tape, she felt secure in trying to round both of them up, and she stepped out in the path of the Rodian. He didn't seem particularly afraid, or even surprised by her appearance. "You are under arrest," she said, perhaps a bit more loudly than she needed to, but the drugs they were passing around, mostly death sticks but other, nastier things as well, would be going out into _her_ neighborhood.

"And what exactly makes you think that you are qualified to make that statement?" he asked her calmly.

"I am a Jedi," she informed him.

"And how many people did you bring with you?"

"I don't need anyone, the Force is with me," She said and threw him up against the wall using the Force. "As I said, you're under arrest."

"That might be more convincing if I was by myself, Jedi. GET HER!" he said.

Seemingly out of nowhere dozens of thugs came out firing stun bolts at her, she released the Rodian to focus on staving off the sudden attack. _Well Ci, _ she admonished herself, _You've sprung the trap, like Daddy and Uncle Obi-Wan, what did they do next? Oh, yeah, that's right, they NEVER had a plan beyond spring the trap. _She rolled her eyes at her stupidity for not bringing help, she let her emotions get away from her and she was now in trouble…yet…maybe just showing up would do what she set out. If she got away, they'd have no choice but to move their operation, and it seemed large enough that it would at least buy her sometime. First, though she had to get away.

"How does it feel Jedi?" the Rodian asked.

"How does what feel, sleemo?" she responded.

"Being bested by us lowlifes, of course."

"I don't see myself being beaten yet."

"Oh yeah," he said, scratching along the jaw line of his chin, then his demeanor changed. "Ok, boys play-time is over, time to earn your pay."

The Force suddenly sang out a warning in her head, but it was too late as dozens of stun grenades came flying at her, she reacted instinctively using the Force to push a wave of them out away, and they detonated near the thugs and she felt a surge of elation, which was quickly squashed as a wave almost stuck on the backsides of the first wave hit and ALL of them detonated near her. The force of the stun blasts hit her nearly at once and set her nervous system on fire and she collapsed in a twitching heap.

The Rodian came over, and took her lightsaber, and said, "Impressive, Jedi. Futile, but impressive."

* * *

* * *

* * *

**Eraidu, Eraidu city, 39:4:6**  
Han was very tense as the three of them moved through the crowds of the sub city. They were only a couple of blocks from the bar that Kyr's "owners" were at. Then a bunch of noise erupted from the dive.

"Sounds like you've been missed kid," Han said.

"I should go back, I don't want to cause you any trouble. Not on my account, I'm not important enough," Kyr said.

"I don't want to hear that ever again, kid. You are as important as anyone else. Now don't worry, me and the Wookiee have gotten out a lot worse scraps than this," Chewie barked a response to that, and Han looked over to him and said, "And we will this time."

Which only caused Chewie to growl something else, Han shot him a dirty look and said nothing.

"You! with the slave STOP!"

"This just isn't our day," Han said palming three small spheres from his belt.

"What do we do?" Kyr asked.

"Keep moving," Han said and with a small movement of his wrist tossed the three spheres behind them.

"Stop or we will open fire!" one of the 'peace' keepers said.

"Now, RUN!" Han said breaking into a jog, Kyr running as fast as his shorter legs could carry him, they went around a corner when the spheres started emitting stun pulses.

"That won't stop them, but it will slow them down. Better get your bowcaster ready, Chewie."

They made their way to the spaceport, sticking to the back streets as much as possible. Han was stunned at the response this was causing. He doubted that a speeder theft would be as publicized. They rounded a corner and ran straight into a patrol, who immediately opened fire, fortunately they weren't great shots.

Han shot off a couple from his blaster taking a few of the gaurds out, and started running again. They dove behind a waste receptacle and started shooting.

"This isn't good, that's the way we need to go," Han said.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I'm causing," Kyr said.

"Don't be kid, its been a while since I've had this much fun."

Chewie growled something.

"Yeah...I guess it's time to call him," Han said.

Chewie woofed another comment, this time sounding distinctly smug.

"He does NOT have to pull our fat out of the fire on every mission...just most of them," Han said.

Chewie barked another comment, this one sounded long suffering.

"Excuse me, I am VERY funny, when I want to be," Han said, then turned his attention to his com while Chewie held off the security forces. "Master Mundi, we've run into..."

"Complications," Master Mundi interrupted, "What is your location, so that I can extract you."

Han gave the Jedi their location.

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes. This is far more serious than I thought."

* * *

* * *

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:6**

Julia was unexpectedly alone when she woke up in the morning, and it was later than normal. She felt out from herself, and found only Mara in the rooms that housed the Skywalker family. She knew that Master Tiin would be expecting her very soon, so she got out of bed, getting dressed in a hurry. She probably wouldn't have made it out of bed at all if it hadn't been for Threepio making sure that she was up. "Hey, Threepio, where's Celia? Did she go down to see Master Allie early?" she asked as she exited her room.

"I do not know, Miss Julia. She was up before my programming engaged this morning. I could inquire as to her whereabouts, if you are concerned about her."

"No," she said with a frown, "I have to go see Master Tiin. I'm sure she'll be back in time for breakfast."

"Should I begin breakfast preparations, Miss Julia?" Threepio asked, and the door opened, and Mara came in.

"I don't know," Julia said. "This is like the first time ever that Mom and Dad have both been gone."

"Don't know what, Julia?"

"Whether Threepio should make breakfast."

"I'm not sure. Luke's on his way up. If you hold on for just a minute or two, we can see what he has to say."

"Did Bant release him?"

"Hard to say. She promised several times that if nothing went awry that she would release both of them first thing in the morning."

Luke walked in then, Jasmine and Leia in tow. "Hey, Jazzy," Julia greeted her sister, giving her a hug.

"Hey, Juls."

Julia turned her attention to Luke briefly. "Do you think that Threepio should make breakfast since Dad and Mom are both gone?"

Luke looked thoughtful, then shrugged. "Unless someone has a better idea. I need to see if Cedric has time to talk to me for a minute," he said, heading for the family's com station.

"Did Bant release you?"

"Yeah, I had a nightmare last night, but that was all. She didn't think it was too terrible for me to come home, but I think she's more worried that I would sneak out anyway than something would actually happen to me."

Mara and Leia moved toward the kitchen, following Threepio, giving him suggestions on what to do with breakfast. Jasmine and Julia went to sit in an out-of-the-way corner of the common room, and sat down on one of the sofas. "Did you get your lightsaber crystal while you were on Ilum?"

"Yeah, I think it's still on the ship though. I want to get started on my lightsaber today, and Bant seemed to think that school wasn't a particularly good idea for me today, and Master Luke is agreeing with her, so I probably won't go back to school until next week. But that gives me time to work on my lightsaber."

"Cool. What color is your crystal, blue or green?"

"I think it's yellow. I haven't gotten it cleaned off totally yet. I will show you after school."

"There are yellow crystals on Ilum?"

"Really deep in the caves, where no one goes, there are some purple ones and some other colors."

"So what happened?"

"I kind of got sucked into all of Master Luke's memories. It's weird."

"I got some of Master Tiin's memories, like, three or four that made really strong impressions."

"But not everything. I think I got everything-everything."

"That is really weird. Like even him kissing Mara and stuff?" Julia asked with a wrinkled nose.

Jasmine blushed and nodded, then changed the subject. "Speaking of Master Tiin, don't you need to go see him?"

Julia tilted her head to the side, considering. "I think he would forgive me if I didn't show up."

"Come on, you need to go do meditation or whatever."

* * *

* * *

* * *

**Corellia, Outer Coronet City, 39:4:6**

Liz pressed her back against the building she was nearest in the narrow alleyway near the main conclave of the Corellian Jedi. Her true Master had determined that this little side trip of hers to stabalize her ship would have to be a "productive" one. She huffed again, having nothing in particular against taking her Knight Trials beginning now, but it was inconvenient to the rest of her scheduled obligations. Master Koon would have her on a short leash if she was late to this meeting, and that would make things difficult. Though if she became a full fledged Jedi Sentinel and the Council actually understood what that meant, she would be able to get away with just about anything, within reason. She was actually supposed to be headed to Iktotch, and one of the families who lived there full-time caring for the tourist industry of the planet, but her ship was in no condition to be that far out without some repairs first.

The Temple on Corellia wasn't a Temple proper, but it was as close as they would ever get. She had eschewed her normal brown robes for mottled brown and grey street clothes. Her hair—including her Padawan braid—had been tucked up under a knit cap that would probably mark her immediately as trouble for CorSec or whoever happened to catch her. Not that she planned on being caught. She would have failed her first Test if that were the case, and she did not intend on disappointing her Master.

She slipped into a building she had noticed earlier seemed to be a parts locker, having searched through the Force to see if there happened to be anyone lurking. She had caught absolutely nothing, thankfully. The lights flickered softly a couple of times before it came on, and she sighed in relief as there didn't seem to be anyone around. She started poking through the shelves of items in the building to see if something like what she needed was there. She had a large canvas bag to put anything that she picked up into. It wasn't that the old freighter needed parts, necessarily, but it did need some work, tuning and maintenance that weren't being kept up well, and she needed to correct those problems before she proceeded on to the rest of her journey.

"Aha," she said softly, spying the detached dome of an astromech droid. It looked mostly intact, but that was always debatable. She slipped it into her bag, and found a coil of various colored wires that she could use in her further repairs. That went into her bag, and a couple of clamps, and a hydrospanner. Never go anywhere without a hydrospanner, her father had taught her, but had she checked the tool box while she was still on Camaas? No, of course not. She huffed, picking up a couple of more parts that she would likely need, and checked around her with the Force to see if she was still alone.

Satisfied that she was, she raised herself up, deciding that she should exit through a different part of the building, in case she'd been spotted going in. She searched the outer wall, but there was only the one door. Undeterred, she checked the ceiling, and found plenty of venting slates that could be raised enough for her to walk through, let alone the half a meter that she would need to slide out. Smiling, she headed near the center, where she remembered there being some shelves she thought would be sturdy enough to climb. And they were, she scaled them easily with the aid of the Force, and was standing atop one shelf, her senses stretched, ready to toss a line up, snaking it in where it needed to be, quietly, when she felt someone near the door. She was faced with a moment in which she could make her decision, and decided that she could make it to the roof before she was seen.

She threw the line up, catching it on the first try, and shimmied up the rope expertly, and was able to pull it up just as the door opened. It was someone in a CorSec uniform. That didn't mean he wasn't a Jedi—just that he wasn't in robes. Not one to waste an opportunity when one was so conveniently presented, she scooted off the roof and onto the ground, heading out in a different direction from the one she came into the area.

She took her cap off, shaking her hair down, wrapping her Padawan braid up underneath her shoulder-length hair, and tucking it in, making it look like a headband, rather than part of her own hair.

She tucked the cap into her bag, hitching it up a little higher, and she whistled as she walked a round about route back to her ship.

* * *

* * *

* * *

**Shiava, Shiava, Guesthouses, 39:4:6**

Cedric was awake when his master knocked on his door in the morning. His body had learned that it didn't matter how late he was up, there was a certain time that he had to be up, and that time came with the rise of the sun of whatever planet they were on. "I'm up," he called to her, throwing the blankets back, and sitting up on the side of the bed.

She took that as an invitation, and opened the door. He looked up at her, and he could see that she wasn't pleased with his current state. "What's wrong with you?"

"I couldn't sleep last night," he said, hoping she wouldn't push to get the whole story out of him.

She pursed her lips, and he knew she was debating doing exactly that. "Get dressed, we need to get started on the day. But don't think you've escaped talking about whatever happened."

"Yes, Master."

"We need to be in the Conference Hall in fifteen minutes. We have a formal breakfast with the negotiating team," she told him before leaving him to his thoughts.

"Yes, Master," he whispered to the door, glad to have the mission to focus on rather than to think about how _she_ tied him up into knots. Before he could even get fully dressed, his com link went off. He frowned at it, but answered anyway. "Hello?"

"Hey, Cedric."

"Luke," he said, surprised, but recognizing his brother's voice instantly. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't know. Has Celia mentioned anything to you about anything in particular that she's involved in, anything she might not have mentioned to anyone else in the family?"

Cedric thought back to his last meeting with his sister, and chancing upon her with Jace and their subsequent discussion. He'd agreed to keep that private, but Luke's urgent concern overrode his duty to keep his sister's confidence. "The only think I can think of is that I think she has a boyfriend," Cedric said, worried now as much as Luke seemed to be. "Jace, one of the Med techs she goes out with on her runs while she's working in the Lower levels of Galactic City."

He couldn't see Luke--hyperwave relay transmitters weren't able to handle the multiple video or holograph load that normal planetary communications networks were able to, though priority communications, such as a planetary government to its Senator, would be able to use a holo-feed as they needed it. But this day-to-day communication between him and his brother, probably didn't rate priority communications--but he could still detect Luke's head shaking. "Maybe he knows something, but I think it's something more serious."

"Let me know if you find anything. I don't like this."

"I don't either, little brother," Luke said, and he smiled. Something inside him unknotted slightly. Life was insanity if you were a Skywalker, but things had been off when he'd left home. But even in this short conversation, he could feel that Luke at least was back to his normal self.

* * *

* * *

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:6**

Jasmine had not been particularly happy about having to take additional time off of school at the insistence of Master Healer Eerin, but she made it a point that she would put the time to the best use possible. She had finished up one series of classes at the end of Selona, planning for the Expansion Week festival, so that she would have a bit of time before she actually decided what classes she was wanted to be taking. So she'd attended only a couple of days of actual class for this round of classes, and would probably be better off, potentially, starting again at the beginning of Nelona. It wasn't that taking the entire month off school would be frowned upon, on the contrary, most people would expect that she would take at least that much time off, for lightsaber construction, getting to know her Master and his expectations, all the things that most Padawans would be doing.

The problem with those ideas was that she knew far more about her Master than anyone really had a right to other than he himself did. And lightsaber construction would be a very simple affair now that she'd cleaned the crystal. Everything that she'd learned about lightsaber construction indicated that what she was about to do was impossible, or at least inadvisable, but that was potentially one of the most appealing aspects of her future lightsaber. She had sorted through the hundreds of parts that were stored in her father's workshop, finding the ideal pieces that she needed to incorporate into her lightsaber. There were some that she needed to adjust before they would be ready to put into their final place, but other than those small things, she had everything she needed laid out. She could feel something impending, something immediate, that would interrupt if she were to actually try to start on her lightsaber tonight, but she could make the adjustments she needed.

Luke had told her that he was going to talk to one of the Med Techs at the station Celia worked at three days a week, but he also seemed to think that she didn't need to be traipsing all over the city with him. So she'd finished cleaning off her crystal, which was slightly smaller than a standard lightsaber hilt, but it fit just perfectly in her hand. Which was a problem, because if she was going to put the lightsaber into the crystal, rather than the other way around, she was going to have to be extremely careful. There was a hardened, slightly differently colored crystal jutting off the main crystal at one end, and that was going to be the focus crystal, but right at this moment, she needed to work on ensuring that all of the pieces would be ready when the time came for her to actually work on the lightsaber.

She reached up, leaning forward and tilting the stool she was sitting on a little bit as she tried to grab one of the tools hanging on the wall behind the work bench. She finally got it, and used the grippers to grab the edge of the power cell, as she pulled the insulation off it. Normally, this was to keep the metal of the shell from interfering with the transmission of power, but it wasn't going to be in a metal case, and besides, she didn't need the added bulk around her power source. She looked over one of the safety locks that she had pulled out, unsure as to whether she should include the mechanism, but she remembered the story of how Luke had gotten the scar on his chin, with the added details of his memories about the incident. He'd been very young, young enough that he shouldn't have had many memories from that time period. But he did remember the incident in good detail. With both Leia and Mara being pregnant, there would be younglings underfoot sooner rather than later, and she would just have to learn to keep the lightsaber locked. With the design she had in mind, retrofitting it would be difficult, even with her father's help. Better to plan ahead. There were other things that could affect the design, but most of them were rendered either moot or useless by the very basics of the design. Water-proof? She was sure it would be, and she would set up the second matrix to ensure that it also functioned under water. It would also work in a vacuum, which would be potentially useful. Since most lightsabers were not made solid, some of them had trouble functioning when there was no air in the matrix to vibrate. Light was strange, and could be considered either a particle or a wave. This was both useful and useless, because it was both at the same time. And so if there was no air, there were no particles to make light do what light did. it operated differently in a vacuum, which meant that lightsabers operated differently in a vacuum. But hers was going to be a solid-state lightsaber, and therefore shouldn't have a problem. The idea intrigued her, but it would be something for later consideration. She pulled out an older version of the lock, which was sturdier because the locking tines were thicker. This was good, because it was going to have to put up with being pushed around in something else solid. She could use the Force to make it easier, but in general, the sturdier the lock was, the better.

She felt Luke coming back into the Temple, and she decided that she'd gotten as much work done on her lightsaber as she was going to get done that day. she put her supplies into a box, labeled it with her name and put it onto one of the shelves on the far side of the room. Luke might poke into it if he had time, but she didn't think he would have the time. Not that _that_ would be terribly unusual. She walked into the common room just as Leia came in from the balcony. Jasmine could see as soon as she looked at her sister that something was wrong. "Leia?"

She looked worried as she sat down on the sofa. "I think I'm having contractions."

* * *

* * *

* * *

**En route to New Ralltiir, **_**Burgeoning Thunder, **_**39:4:6**

Anakin had returned to their cabin before Padmé found him. "Are you sulking already?" she asked playfully. He was laying on the bed, reading something on a datapad, and she was very much invading his personal space.

"No," he told her, but defensively, laying the datapad on the nightstand, "Just a strategic retreat, to gather my strength for later."

She smiled, curling up beside him. "I think you are hiding from them."

"Why would I do that?"

"For Ahsoka, it's because you think she will try to get you to be someone you don't think you are anymore or every will be again. For Ash, it is because he is young, and he looks up to you," she sighed, sitting down on the bed. He sat beside her. "You have always been kind, Anakin. You've always been very caring. You've never been this solitary, this closed off from everyone. Even I feel it, and I know you've made an effort to extend yourself out to me. You hold yourself away from your Padawans, and away from your children. It's as though you are afraid that you will taint them by your very presence."

"What if I am afraid of that?" he asked, his mood somber.

"Then you are intelligent enough to realize that you do have a lot of influence with them. But you are forgetting that they love you very much, and you love them just as much. That love won't let you hurt them."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Of course, Ani," she said running her hand down the side of his face, "Don't ever think that you aren't a good father, a good teacher, a good person."

"But can I continue to be the person they see when they look at me? With all that I've done?"

"Yes," she said, forcefully, perhaps a bit too forcefully. "And maybe later on, when you believe that again, you can share this, teach others that no one is above failure."

"I somehow don't think I will ever feel like sharing."

"It might be cathartic."

He was silent for a while as he took a little time with her thought. "I will consider it," he told her finally, and she laughed. He frowned. "What?"

"Just remembering how much trouble there was the last time you told me that," she said, then her mood turned serious. "Ahsoka wanted to speak with you."

* * *

* * *

* * *

**En route to New Ralltiir, **_**Burgeoning Thunder, **_**39:4:6**

Ahsoka knew Anakin was avoiding her, but she tracked him down when he got involved in fixing a leaky gasket in the engine room. "You have to face things, you know," she told him, and he jerked up, forgetting for a moment that he'd sidled under the coolant pipes he was working on.

"Ow," he complained, rubbing his forehead, "Did you have to ambush me here?"

"It was the only place you were still long enough for me to track you down. Didn't Padmé tell you I needed to talk to you?"

"She said you wanted to talk to me. I don't see that as quite the same thing."

"Did she say what I wanted to talk to you about?"

"No, just that you wanted to talk," he said, continuing his work on what he was doing. It would help distract him, which, on some days, was very good.

"I have been thinking about what you have told me, the other time, when you were Vader, and some of it struck me as odd. Where was I in all of this?"

"You were only my Padawan for as long as the Clone Wars lasted, not even that long, really. I wasn't knighted until a year into it, and you were gone by then end of the Outer Rim Sieges. Seven nasty months of battle that took more Jedi from us than any other campaign that the Seps threw at us. You were one of those Jedi. It was perhaps a year and a half, maybe a bit more, that you were my Padawan. I failed you as much as I failed anyone. I always felt that it was my fault that you died. No one ever blamed me, but you were my Padawan to protect, and I failed to do so."

"So I was sixteen?"

"Yes, nearly seventeen. You were so young, even then."

"I remember quite a number of missions that got away from us back then, Master."

"I somehow doubt they will be the same type of missions."

"Oh, I don't know, The Clone Wars were absolutely the nastiest piece of work I've ever heard about, but the Pirate Wars were no picnic, either. At least with the Pirate Wars, we didn't have a Sith controlling and funding both sides. Maul limited his involvement to the one side, and Jorus C'both."

"What about Master C'both?"

"He went rogue a few months after the Massacre in the Senate, and he was the major leader in the cause for the CIS, the leader of the people who got behind the Neimoidians in the Pirate Wars."

Anakin shook his head. "I remember Master C'both. He was a good man, well, perhaps I wished that he had been my Master instead of Obi-Wan. I was seventeen when I met him, and I wasn't on the best of terms with Obi-Wan at that point, and C'both had some very grand ideas. He put together an operation called Outbound Flight, and they went on a mission to see what was beyond the edge of the galaxy. I wanted to go with them, but Obi-Wan didn't and Palpatine, I think, arranged things so that I couldn't go. I think I would have enjoyed seeing what was beyond the Outer Rim."

Ahsoka looked troubled. "He was a very evil man who caused the deaths of billions of innocent people."

"In this time-line, yes. It's another point on the idea that anyone can fall, and it just takes the right triggers for them to do so. What happened?"

"The changes, he couldn't deal. I heard somewhere he was something of a control freak."

"Yes, that is true, he was very detail oriented. And the massive sweeping changes that the Order had to have been undergoing immediately after the Massacre because of the information that Luke and I provided wouldn't have set very well with the C'both that I knew."

"Well, we aren't entirely certain that Maul was helping C'both, and there is some evidence that he even actively worked against him."

"That couldn't have been easy. C'both was a powerfully charismatic person."

"You're right, it wasn't. He was also a loose cannon, and toward the end we weren't even sure that he was mentally stable. We think there were a few politicians swayed to his cause, but we aren't sure who, exactly. Some of them funneled money into the CIS."

"I don't doubt it," Anakin told her, "I don't like politicians."

"And yet you married one."

"That's different. Padmé is honest and knows how to make the system work for her, rather than being captured and becoming a part of the system. She's a good politician."

"And that's something rare even after the Massacre. It straightened out for a short time, but I don't think it was even a year before business was back to normal."

Anakin sighed, and, having finished the repair, moved away from the piping and stood. "I wish it would have been different, but I can't say that I don't understand that happening. It happens all too often in my experience."

"Do you want to remember your life with your children?" she asked him after a long pause.

"Of course."

"It will probably mean that you are going to be incapacitated for an extended period of time."

Anakin nodded. "Did you want to do it now?"

"I thought it might be good to do it before we have to land on New Ralltiir, if you don't mind. Padmé can fly, or me, or Ash, or even Artoo, should it be necessary."

He grumbled. "You aren't going to leave me alone about this, are you?"

"No. But you knew that before you asked."

"Fine," he said, and headed up to his room.

* * *

* * *

* * *

**New Ralltiir, Governmental Palace, Formal Dining Room, 39:4:6**

Jaedrea was seated next to Obi-Wan for the formal lunch that was to be a part of the proceedings. She disliked formal dining, but it was as necessary a part of some negotiations as the actual negotiations part was. Training from her mother and grandmother schooled her into stillness, but she could tell from her Master's occasional glances that she was still far to mentally fidgety for his peace of mind. She might not perform up to her mother's expectations, but she would not embarrass him or the Order, either. Part of the reason that she was not as settled as she would have normally been was that her father had yet to arrive, whatever the reason was that he was coming in the first place.

Then she caught sight of her parents. Both of them. She frowned, and the entire New Ralltiir government erupted into a frenzy of action. One of them came over to Obi-Wan's side. "Why didn't you tell us that the Chancellor was coming?"

"I was not informed," Obi-Wan said, "But she does not answer to me, Master Skywalker, or anyone in the Jedi Temple."

The man swallowed, "You really didn't know she was coming?"

"I informed you that Masters Skywalker and Tano were coming and their Padawans, as I was informed, but they did not inform me that the Chancellor had decided to come as well."

"What is the purpose of Chancellor Amidala's visit? Is she here to force an end to these negotiations?"

"You would have to ask her."

Jaedrea was still being quiet and still, no matter how much she wanted to get up and run over to her father's protective embrace. Or her mother's for that matter. "Should we go see what they want, Master?" she asked.

Obi-Wan tilted his head, looking at them. "I suspect that would be a reasonable idea, Padawan. Perhaps we can get things settled more quickly."

"Yes, Master," she said, rising when he did, and following him to the entryway, where her parents were still standing, having been mobbed by practically every government official in the building.

The crowd parted, for the most part, as they came through. "Master Kenobi," her father greeted Obi-Wan formally.

"Master Skywalker, it is good to have you here," he replied with equal formality. It was standard out-of-Temple formal speech that people seemed to expect out of Jedi for some Force-forsaken reason.

"My wife insisted on coming," he said, indicating her mother. "And we are hungry from our travels, perhaps we could sit down to eat, as I believe you were about to do?"

"I'm sure that would be acceptable," Obi-Wan said, turning to the Negotiator Designate, Ah Ku'pymuh, and said, "Perhaps it would be best if the Chancellor sat with us, Negotiator Ku'pymuh?"

"Ah, uh, yes, I suppose that would be acceptable," he said, and then started barking orders to the staff.

Jaedrea flowed silently to the rear of the group from Coruscant as people began to return to their seats. She didn't have any expectation as to how things would go, but at least the focus would be off her and onto her mother. She and Obi-Wan had been seated at the head table with the President, and someone was being shuffled off, down to a lower table to make room for the new arrivals, specifically her mother. Since she was there, everyone seemed to believe that she would take the lead on the negotiations, and the Negotiator Designate insisted on her sitting next to him. Her father sat next to her mother, and Obi-Wan motioned her over, seating her between her father and himself. Ahsoka sat to Obi-Wan's other side, and Nadina and Ash further down.

Once the Chancellor and the Jedi were settled, most everyone else had been resettled somehow or another. "Jaedrea, I'm sure the Chancellor would appreciate your perspective on the negotiations thus far, don't you?" Obi-Wan asked her.

She suppressed a scowl. She knew as well as he did that she would not, but she also knew that if her father had been telling the truth, they might not have brought the information that she had taken pains to memorize. "We were called in to ensure that the negotiations that had gone on prior to our arrival were being conducted in the proper manner. The contract being put forth is for carbonates for the upper-tier atmosphere dampeners, and the major source of contention right now is the length of the new contract. The Coruscanti Governing Board wishes to have a contract for five years or perhaps longer, with extension rights, but the New Ralltiir government wishes to renegotiate in not more than a year. There are some more minor points, rates of guaranteed increases, specifics to colonial improvement projects, but those could be hammered out much more easily if the length of the contract could be determined in the first place."

"Thank you, Jaedrea," her mother told her, and she seemed to actually mean it. Her face flushed with a bit of pride, that she could actually do her job and her mother was respecting that. By that point, the serving staff had brought out the first course, and the tedious art of eating a formal meal began. "Did you have anything to add, Master Kenobi?"

"As my Padawan indicated, there are other issues, but I believe her assessment is correct. If we could get both parties to agree to a contract length, then we would be able to conclude these negotiations quickly."

"Very well," she said, and turned to the Negotiator Designate, who suddenly looked very nervous, as though dealing with her mother was far more scary than dealing with her Master. She personally found Master Windu far scarier than either of them, but perhaps Negotiator Ku'pymuh had a different perspective than she did. She certainly didn't think her father was anything like the man they portrayed him to be on the HoloNet. He was a kind, gentle, loving father who had almost always been there for her when she'd needed him. "Why is it that you don't want to have the contract extend for five years?" she asked him pointedly. "That is the standard length of a contract, is it not?"

"We are concerned for our interests," he said placatingly. "And things change, Madam Chancellor."

She arched her eyebrow at him, a sure sign that he would have gotten a severe lecture, had he been her. Perhaps he understood that somehow, because his level of agitation went up considerably. "What things?"

"Well, I don't know, exactly, but the galaxy is constantly in a state of flux, surely you know that."

"Indeed."

"Which is why we think a shorter contract would better suit our needs at this time."

"Perhaps, but it would not better suit the needs of Coruscant. Both parties must compromise in a situation such as this if progress is to be made."

"Yes, yes, of course, but not to the point of breaking one party or the other."

"I would not see a contract that brought either party excessive hardship," Padmé told him. "But denying a contract out of an obdurate and misplaced sense of requital will not be allowed."

"I assure that is not the case here," the Negotiator Designate said, "Just a healthy respect for what's gone on before."

At this point the main course arrived, and everyone turned their attention to the food, which meant they were not talking about the negotiation, for which Jaedrea was grateful.


	13. Julia

**AN: I am still intending to work on other stories. Really. I promise. Even "The Necklace" which is fairly much hopelessly complicated at this point. But, this is what is coming out right now, so this is what I am writing. **

**Thanks to my reviewers-whateveritis12, general-joseph-dickson, Shinen no Hikari, Jedi Angel001, ilovenat1995, serious starwars fan, and Danni Lea. And, no, Danni. it just doesn't happen. It's like a psychic power magnet for trouble. **

**So, other than that, you have a chapter to read, so let us be on with it!**

**

* * *

En route to Iktotch, **_**Rogue Tanner**_**, 39:4:6**  
Liz was certainly glad to be on her way after fixing the borrowed ship. She had hoped to be on schedule, and she was only slightly behind. She thought that a few minor adjustments to the hyperspace route should take care of her time crunch.

Her Master was strangely absent, but it didn't matter. She had gotten through her first trial, just fine and dandy, and off the planet without even a ripple of a fuss. Maybe he was double checking to make sure her presence continued to go undetected, or something of that nature, or perhaps this was a continuation of her test, or the beginning of a new one. It didn't matter, really, except that his presence would help her to pass the time more quickly. Not that he particularly cared, he'd been a Force ghost for a millennium, at the very least. Would her knighting mean that she would be soon training her own Padawan?

Her head was spinning with the possibilities, as hyperspace flowed around her. She kept telling herself that it didn't matter that Master Kerni wasn't around. But it did. His absence made her uncertain. Much more than a disapproving look from Master Yoda or Master Qui-Gon. Master Koon really wasn't into disapproving looks, but she'd seen even her father wilt under one of Master Qui-Gon's looks. She thought back to the day that she had agreed to train under Master Koon. She had been nearly fifteen, which was the new upper age limit for Initiates to transition to Padawans. Her father had been beside himself, because it had been after Luke and Leia's birthday, and she had shown no indication that any of the pairings were going to work for her. Most of her problem in finding a compatible Master had been that she had been in training to become a Sentinel practically since she had begun her Initiate training. For a time, she actually thought that most Jedi had Force ghosts for secret friends, that every one's training was done with a combination of school and one-on-one time with a Force ghost.

She had known Sha Koon for some time when the opportunity came up to become her Padawan, and the learning that she would be doing with her new Master would be something she was interested in, as she had inherited her father's love of younglings. She didn't know if she would go as far as he had, having eight of her own, but she did want to have children. Ones that she didn't have to give back to their parents at the end of the day. She smiled. She wanted this. To be knighted now. She had learned from a number of examples and blistering lectures from her father directed at her older siblings that it would be far easier to wait until she was knighted to fall in love, but her heart hadn't agreed.

She clamped down hard on the feeling, knowing that if she didn't it would be harder to suppress later. She had fallen in love with someone who her father probably wouldn't approve of. She hadn't even begun to think of broaching the subject with him, but if she was to be knighted soon, then it would not be long after that she would have to bite the bullet on this one.

Her father's opinion did matter to her, it mattered a lot, but she was very much in love with his best friend's son. Fel-Gin Kenobi was almost seven years older than she was. It didn't matter to either of them, the occasional moment when they were both home and things had boiled over had proven that. The first time she had known with absolute certainty that he reciprocated the fluttering feelings she felt in her heart, she had been 16, and her mother had been at Senate, her father, Obi-Wan, and some others had been on a fairly extensive mission. The triplets were nine, not yet old enough to be Padawans, Celia and Cedric were twelve, and off with their Masters. She was home, watching her younger siblings, to keep them out of trouble, doing some assignments on the differences between care for various species of younglings and Fin had dropped by to make sure everything was going smoothly.

He had been 23, and was soon to be knighted, not that either of them knew that at the time. They had talked, and then there was a moment. He had leaned in, brushing his lips against hers, and then it was more. And she had pushed him away first. The hurt look on his face had nearly crushed her. "Fin, we can't, not until we are both knighted," she had been gentle, explaining. He had nodded jerkily. That was their moment, the one where both of them were certain that the other did truly care for them. There had been other days after that, where their feelings would get the better of them, but he kept busy, and she kept busy. It was hard to be around each other, and sometimes harder to be apart. The kisses were gentle, when it came to that, though most of the time it didn't. He understood the pressure she was under, that they were both under, to keep things under wraps until their relationship would not be forbidden.

_"You are looking so sad, chikra, what is wrong?"_

She flashed a quick smile, looking at the Force ghost who had planted himself in her co-pilot's chair. "Just thinking about what is beyond my knighting."

_"This wouldn't have anything to do with young Kenobi, would it?"_

She sighed, "You know me too well. Is it so horrible to want to be with him?"

_"Oh, chikra, you have many roads to travel before it is time for you to be home and knighted. Best to keep your mind on the here and now. It will come soon enough," _he said.

"What's wrong, Master? Nothing on the impatience of youth?"

_"You are in a foul mood to want to torture yourself with that tired old rant. At any rate, your second trial is coming up soon."_

"Is this going to be a recognized trial? I have only been a Padawan for five years."

_"Officially. Though I would contend you have been a Padawan for closer to fifteen. You have been training for a very long time for this. You are ready, and the Council will see that. Your father will see to it, if nothing else. And there are those among the Order now who have had their trials as you have."_

"I will not fail you, My Master."

_"It is not me I worry about you failing, it is yourself. You have all the skills and training I can give you. All that is left is for you to build on the foundation we have built together. You are ready for this."

* * *

_

**Coruscant, Lower levels, Emergency Dispatch Center 4077, 39:4:7**  
Luke Skywalker stepped into a busy work area in the Dispatch Center that his sister was training at. There were a number of people who were about his age, some a bit older, preparing emergency kits, or counting supplies, or reading. One of the medtechs fumbled what he was packing as Luke walked in, and began gathering up his dropped supplies as Luke walked over to him. "Mister Aldous?"

The young man stood up, putting the fallen equipment onto a table. "Yes, Jedi Skywalker?" they had met briefly several times in the last year, not that this made him any more comfortable around Luke.

"Do you know where Celia is?" Luke asked, his emotions warring between amused and worried.

Jace frowned, probably because of this odd disparity. "She should be over at the community center, teaching first aid at this hour. She isn't due here for another three hours."

Luke nodded. "Did anything unusual happen the last time she was here?"

"Um, not really. She arrested a guy for trying to attack us. There was another one who got away."

Luke nodded. "Anything else?"

"What is wrong?" Jace asked.

Luke frowned, and paused for a moment as he decided how much to tell him. "No one has seen her since sometime last night."

Jace was instantly alarmed at this revelation, now just as worried as Luke was. "What about your Dad?"

He shook his head. "Both of our parents are off-planet right now."

"So, no one to tell if she was home last night," Jace said.

"Julia was home, but she went to bed before Ci, and so there is no way to know if she actually stayed home or left after."

"I'll come with you, give me a minute," Jace said, Luke put a hand on his arm.

"Not so fast. I don't need another person in the line of fire if things get ugly."

"I know the area and can get you where you need to go faster."

"This is a Jedi matter and it's my sister. I need to be focused on what is going on around me, not on anything else."

"I care about Celia, too. She's very special to me," he said. Luke looked at him, deciding that he could use the help, and that he couldn't deny Jace the opportunity to search for Ci. Cedric had said he was Celia's boyfriend, but Luke had seen no sign of that until his last admission. It was probably for the best, at least until she was knighted, but that was a topic for later discussion. After they found his sister.

"Fine," Luke told him, "Hurry, I want to get on this as quickly as possible." Jace nodded, already trotting over to what Luke had to assume was the duty officer.

* * *

**Qeimat system, **_**Revelation**_**, Battle platform, 39:4:6**  
Biggs Darklighter watched the only man who currently had any authority over him, Garven Dreis, pace around the room, throwing dark looks at the stats board when it suited him. It was late, most of the others were in bed, but he had to placate Boss's bad mood. Not that Biggs really minded. Rogue Squadron was the Republic's most elite group, and they were, well, giving birth, to a new squad, which would operate with the same sort of mission framework as Rogue already did. That didn't make Renegade Squadron elite, just special. Elite would come later. After much discussion, Biggs had been appointed to be in charge of Renegade, with Jek as his second. And much hemming and hawing had also gotten him Wes to help out as a kind of glue for the new unit.

Once Renegade got going, he technically wouldn't have a boss. It was one of the joys of being an adjunct squad. They did what was needed, when it was needed. And he and Boss chose what assignments would be theirs, and what could be passed on to more traditional units. Which was one of the reasons that Renegade was being formed up; the assignments that Rogue needed to handle were getting too numerous. "Tell me how it is that a thirteen-year-old girl can out-perform pilots who have been flying in the Navy for longer than she's been alive?"

The current reason that the stat board was offending Dreis, was, of course, one Julia Nicole Skywalker. "I think the first time I saw her in a simulator was about ten years ago, Boss. I'm sure that if someone had the forethought to put her in one before she could walk, she would have been just as good. She's just a natural pilot, besides consider who her father is."

"Anakin Skywalker," Dreis said, thinking for a moment after he said the name. "If he wasn't a Jedi, he'd still make a damn fine hotshot pilot. From what I hear, he hasn't slowed down any, despite his age."

"Yeah, a hotshot. A rugged individualist, that one."

Dreis chuckled. "Now, about Julia. How did she do that first time?"

"She kept it steady, she couldn't shoot worth anything, but she sure could fly it. Putting her through ring programs was really kind of a shock to the rest of us. Three years old and could post better scores than some of us ten, twelve years older. It was just her family, me, Tank, Fixer, and a couple of others, mind you, but I think she was outdoing a couple of her sisters at least."

"She did that well?"

"Master Skywalker rigged up controls she could reach, since she was obviously interested, and yeah, she blew the programs out of the water. After that, Master Skywalker put her up against Luke, and he was hot dogging it pretty bad, but then again, Mara was there watching. She held her own for a little bit though."

"And he's, what, eleven years older than her?"

"About that. He'll be 24 next month."

"And he does exceptionally well, but more on a par with the other recruits we have up here."

"Yeah. He's one of the best pilots at the Temple, and there's no doubt that he has talent, and I'd have him out here if I could, but he's got other responsibilities."

"Do you think that having a Jedi on a squad such as ours would be helpful?"

"Don't see how it could hurt. And we do spend a lot of our time helping the Jedi out anyway, so I think that adding a Jedi or two might make things easier in some ways, definitely on the ground portions of our missions."

"You don't think that they would dominate the squad?"

"They have their own talents, and are handy when you need pulled out of an impossible situation, but no, they are just regular people. Do you think that Wings will dominate a squad if she's put on one?"

Boss smiled. "No, she wouldn't but it's not her I'm worried about. She's still a Padawan, and that means if I want her, I have to take her Master, too. I've never heard of a Master giving a Padawan as much freedom as Nikki's been given."

"He does it because she wants this that badly. I don't think anyone has thought where letting her train with us would really lead, not even her."

"What is your read on Master Tiin? I've only met him a couple of times, and you spend time with the Skywalkers, do you have any ideas on what role he could play with Rogue Squadron? Would he work with us?"

"He's, well," Biggs furrowed his brow as he tried to think of an appropriate adjective. "He's Master Tiin. He's a Tan, same as Master Skywalker."

"What in the Force is a Tan?"

"It's some sort of Jedi Pilot rank, they give it out to Jedi who do something pretty exceptional in the pilot seat."

"Have we considered putting Master Skywalker on a squad?"

"No, and we shouldn't. He works well enough with one or two others, but in general he doesn't do particularly well in group settings."

"Julia doesn't seem to have that problem."

"No, and neither does Master Tiin. He would probably see us tomorrow if we asked."

"Set it up. The worst he will do to us is say no."

"Yes, sir," Biggs said, and Dreis left the room, leaving him to calling the Temple.

* * *

**Horuz System, in orbit around Despayre, **_**DS-1 Orbital Battle Station, **_**39:4:7 **

Grand Fleet Admiral Wilhuff Tarkin stood at ease, listening to the various morning reports being fed to him by his staff. Nothing was very different from the day before. Darth Immolious, Lord Maul's right hand, had delivered the last of the plates for the hull, and the orbital battle station on which he stood would be complete in a matter of days. Structurally, at least. The laser was far behind schedule, though Immolious had also assured him that a supply of Tibanna gas had been secured, and their first shipment would be arriving within days. She had given him specifications on the gas she would be acquiring for him, and they were impressive, if they could be believed. Spin-sealed Tibanna gas from Bespin itself, directly. That was her promise. She didn't elaborate as to how she had gotten such a deal, but that was hardly unusual. She was, after all, Lord Maul's personal servant, pupil, slave. He wasn't quite sure what her relationship to him was, but it was definitely outside the rank structure of the Separatist movement. And, for the most part, orders from her could be treated like orders from Maul himself, unless they contradicted something that he had previously set in motion himself.

"Sir," the traffic controller said, looking up at him. "The _Hunter's Fury_ has just docked. The captain wishes to speak with you."

"Very well," he said. The communications officer put the transmission on the main holoscreen for the bridge. "Good afternoon, Captain."

"Afternoon," the captain, a Gamorrean, said, then she snorted. "We have brought ten thousand slaves, directly here from Zeltros."

"Zeltron slaves?"

"For the most part. A few odd tourists of other species."

"Fine, send them through the inoculation center."

"How long will this take?"

"Once the techs have everything set up, it will only take a few hours to process the Zeltrons, and once that is done, it will take a bit longer to process your odd pick-ups, but you should be out of here today. You can leave the rest if you do not wish to wait for them, and pick them up the next time you are through."

"Do you have any that I could trade for, one to one?"

"I can see. We only keep slaves here on a temporary basis as a courtesy, you know. But it is possible. Thank you for bringing these through."

"We have heard that the control mechanism you install is superior to what others use, and you do not charge more for it. We appreciate this."

"It is our pleasure to be of service. Thank you, Captain," he said, and the transmission ended. So the word was getting out that they were utilizing a new slave control mechanism. This could be good, it could be bad. The initial insertion of the control mechanism was not particularly costly, nor was the tattooing of their control number on a convenient part of their body. The nice part was that the control mechanism simply paralyzed the slave instead of killing them, making the slaves more valuable, because runaways could simply be 'shut down' like droids until they were compliant.

This service was offered and the protection that they were granting to slavers to hit specific Inner and Mid Rim Republic worlds, to create the appropriate levels of fear, outrage, distrust, and general discontent in order to bring about the war that would help them destroy the Jedi. He personally had no particular like or dislike for the Jedi, but the Republic was a bloated, overgrown bureaucracy that existed only to further propagate itself. Disassembling it would allow for a greater amount of commerce, and a far larger overall economy in the galaxy. He was doing a service to the galaxy, really. He returned his attention to the reports his staff was giving him.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Healer's Hall, 39:4:7**  
Leia Skywalker-Solo was not happy, and she made sure that everyone around knew it. Her youngest sister had pointed out that making everyone else miserable was not going to make having the twins any easier. That had earned Jasmine a glare, though she had a point. Stass Allie walked into the room. "Leia?"

"Yes?"

"I want to do another scan before you get too far advanced in your labor. You can have a light snack while you are up to settle your stomach if need be, but your intake is going to be restricted until you have the babies."

"Alright," Leia agreed, and walked down with the Healer, Jasmine close on her heels. She settled onto the biobed under the scanning machine, and waited while Master Allie began the scan. "I wish Han was here, but he had to go on that last mission."

"Don't worry. He won't miss the important part," Jasmine said.

Leia rolled her eyes. "You can't seriously think that they have gotten done with negotiations yet, they've barely been on the ground for more than a couple of days."

Master Allie frowned at the scan image as it coalesced. "What's wrong?" Jasmine asked, ignoring Leia's disbelief.

"Nothing, really," Master Allie assured her quickly. "But Leia's gone into labor early enough that the babies haven't turned over. It's something we can correct, at least for the first one. Once that one is out of the way, the other will have room to turn over and head in the right direction."

"Which one is first?" Jasmine asked, looking at the image. Leia had noticed that it was always amazingly transfixing when the Healers had images of unborn children on the display. She remembered fondly when her mother had been pregnant with the triplets being just as transfixed by the images.

"It's sometimes hard to tell, but in this case, it looks like this one," she said, pointing to one of the two babies, "Ah, I think that's the girl."

"Wizard," Jasmine said, and Leia smiled.

"Alright," Master Allie said, "Let's see if we can get her turned around."

* * *

**Eriadu, Eriadu, 39:4:6**  
Han Solo was holding position as the local policing force was gathering around. Since they had been able to trap the adventurers they had stopped firing. "Give the boy up, and no harm will come to you," someone shouted over a loudspeaker. It seemed to be attached to one of the aircars in the area. Kyr actually moved to get up, and Han put a hand on him.

"Don't even think about it. You are going to Coruscant, and you will be free. You will stay as a guest of the Chancellor and you will be educated in the Temple, and you are not going back to the life of a slave. Do you hear me?"

Kyr swallowed hard. "Yes, sir. I'm to be a Jedi?" he asked, confused.

"Maybe, you'll be tested to see if that is an option for you, then if you have the potential, you will have to decide if it's a path you want to follow. Either way, you will be educated in the Temple."

"Really?"

"Really. It's a good school, you'll learn a lot and make friends. It won't be easy, but nothing in life that is worthwhile ever is though," he said, scanning the sky. "Come on," he said quietly to Master Mundi, and his ship.

"If you do not surrender the boy, we will be forced to fire upon you," the voice over the loudspeaker said.

"Oh, switch off, koochu," Han said, not very loudly but loudly enough that Chewie heard, and he trilled in agreement. He pulled out his com and switched it on to only static. "Kriffing hell."

"What is wrong, Han?" the boy asked worriedly.

"They've got jammers up. I can't call Master Mundi. He said fifteen minutes, it's just seeming like an awful long fifteen minutes."

Suddenly the police in the area started to scatter as what looked like the _Falcon_ nose-dived from directly above them firing bolts at what looked like minimum intensity. There would be damage, but it would not be the devastation that a full out attack by a ship of the _Falcon_'s caliber. Though Han thought they were being made to believe it would be. The ship stopped neatly next to them, and the ramp descended. "Our ride is here, get on," Han directed the boy. Kyr ran to the ship lie his life depended on it, and Han and Chewie were right behind him, blasters at the ready.

* * *

**New Ralltiir, Docking Bay, 39:4:7**  
It was late when they got back to the ship, but the afternoon had been more productive than the morning. Then again, Jaedrea's mother could be direct in a way that even Obi-Wan couldn't. The negotiations had worn everyone out though, and excuses had been made in an appropriate fashion that the Negotiator Designate didn't feel that they were slighting him by sleeping aboard the ship. She was the last one up, and pushed the button to shut the ramp. She sighed with relief as it closed behind her, and did what she'd been wanting to do all day.

"Daddy," she cried out, rushing over to him, and he engulfed her in a fierce hug that she returned with equal fervor, He also sent out thoughts of worry and concern along the bond that they shared. He'd stopped doing that most of the time during the last three years, something about it being Obi-Wan's job. Something was bothering him, more than he let on. He was very worried for it to leak over to her like this.

No one spoke for a while, and then Obi-Wan said, "I believe that I need to speak with Anakin alone for a few moments, Jaedrea, if you would please detangle yourself?"

She sighed and shook herself. "Yes, Master Obi-Wan," she told him. "But if it's all the same, I'd like to come."

Obi-Wan looked at her father, and something passed between them, something beyond the communications that she had with him. Of course, they had known one another twice as long as she'd been alive, even longer, really. Something was decided in that period of time, but she couldn't have said what from even the more subtle quirks of Obi-Wan's mouth, as he almost smiled. "It will be fine, and Ahsoka, too."

Ahsoka nodded as though she'd expected that, and her father led them to the cockpit while her mother sat down with Ash and Nadina, and began asking them what they'd thought of various members of the delegation.

She settled into the navigator's chair, her father and Obi-Wan in the pilot and co-pilot's chair respectively. The last chair was Ahsoka's-the com chair. It was quiet for a few moments before anyone started saying anything, and she curled her legs up into her chair and rested her chin on her knees. Finally her father sighed, and said, "Darth Maul is on this planet."

She swallowed hard. "What do you think he wants, Daddy?"

"I believe that he is here to disrupt the negotiations, but he is never adverse to collateral damage, and I believe that he has or will be coming after you, Jaedrea."

The seriousness with which he said it took all hope from her for a moment. "She did end up waking in a different room than she went to sleep in," Obi-Wan pointed out. Fear started to rise as she thought about the possible implications for that idea.

"Jaedrea, it's fine," her father said. "I will personally see to it that if he did anything to you, it will be reversed, and nothing bad will happen."

She nodded, her faith in him calming her. If her father was going to do it himself, and he guaranteed her that nothing bad would come of it, he had to be confident that he could. "Now?" she asked him.

He inclined his head, thinking or talking to Obi-Wan or Ahsoka, she couldn't tell which. "Yes," he told her finally, "It would be best to see what, if anything, is going on in that head of yours."

**

* * *

Coruscant, Lower Levels, 39:4:7**  
Mara Jade-Skywalker watched as her husband walked out of what looked to be a community center with another young man who was about their age. She studied the two of them together for a few moments. Luke had yet to note her presence overtly, though she could feel his presence within the Force seeking her out. So, she walked out where he could see her, and the other young man looked up.

"Can we help you?" he asked. He was apparently used to being nominally in charge of situations.

She shook her hair back. "No, I am just coming to help my husband get into trouble."

"Mara, this is Jace Aldous. He is normally working as a medtech with Celia while she is down here. He is assisting me in going through the events of one day last week," Luke said, and she nodded to the young man, who looked slightly embarrassed and at least a little uncomfortable.

Luke handed her a datapad with an incident report on it. Incident reports were the bane of most every Jedi. They were, unfortunately, useful if follow up was being done. Such as now. "Celia worried about the possibility of being trapped? That doesn't sound like her."

"No, but she was the only Jedi in the area. She is not as sensible as Cedric, but one would think something had rubbed off from him."

"Perhaps, but I somehow doubt it. She's more from the burn-and-learn school. Something about that statement doesn't ring true," Mara said, frowning at the offensive report.

Jace cleared his throat. "I might be able to expound upon that statement," he said.

"Oh, and how's that?" Mara asked him.

"I recommended to her that she not pursue the second assailant."

"You had to have done something more than 'recommend,' if she was on the scent of something. Especially something as easy to catch as a bolt-for-hire two-cred piece of trash like this," she said, poking Jace with the corner of the datapad.

"I may have," he said, "But is it really too much to ask for her to stop and think of her safety?"

"No. She probably did think of her safety, and based on this report, she wouldn't have been unsafe going after him. If this hadn't come up, that wouldn't have been questioned, but it has, so I'm questioning it. What did you say or do to convince Celia that she shouldn't have gone after this gangster?"

He at least had the grace to look embarrassed as he looked over at Luke. "I kissed her."

"See, perfectly reasonable explanation," Mara said with a smirk. "You would stop chasing bad guys if someone came up to you and planted one on you, wouldn't you, Farmboy?"

"It would give me at least a little pause, yes," Luke agreed calmly.

"Alright. Where is it that we are going?"

"To where the incident took place," Luke said. "If you don't mind showing us?" he asked, turning to Jace.

"Certainly, Jedi Skywalker."

**

* * *

Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Fighter Bay, 39:4:7**  
Saesee Tiin was working on his starfighter, and had indicated that he would see the two men from Rogue Squadron in the fighter bay because he had no particular desire to interrupt his morning routine. Julia had already gone off to breakfast, and she would be joining the young men shortly. "Master Tiin?" a vaguely familiar voice asked.

He stuck his head out, and recognized the young man as one of the younger Skywalkers' friends. "Darklighter."

"Yes. Commodore Dreis here," he indicated the other man, who was a Human in his forties, that Tiin had met once or twice, "Was wanting to ask you a few questions."

"Go ahead." Saesee said. He realized that he could be somewhat intimidating to Humans, or to any host of other peoples who tended to associate horns with ferocity. He pulled himself the rest of the way out from under the starfighter.

"We have been keeping track of Nikki's scores, just as an additional comparison for the people that we are testing out."

"Yes. Juila has been so thrilled that she is able to help do actual work for the squad," Saesee said as he stood up then leaned against the starfighter, letting a bit of pride in his Padawan show through.

"Well, she doesn't know the full results of those testing scores; no one does, except me and Darklighter. The reason we are here is she's performing much better than any of the new recruits. We've told her and some of the other's that they are in the top half-it's good for morale-but beyond that, she probably has no idea how well she's doing."

"She has always flown well."

"That's just it. Rogue Squadron cannot afford to take less than the best, and we might well be shooting ourselves in the foot letting three go to Renegade. Julia _is_ the best of the recruits. She even outperforms some of the Rogues, on some tests."

The Jedi Master frowned. "So you want her on the squad full-time, as a full-fledged member, in spite of her age?"

"In short, yes. Normally we'd never be faced with the problem, as no thirteen-year-old would ever be allowed to fly anything, much less the new X-Wings. However we understand that there is a loop hole, that if you would join us as well, that would satisfy legal requirements as far as the Temple was concerned. Also since you are a Master, the Council cannot forbid you a requested assignment unless they can prove the Order would be harmed by your undertaking it. "

"I assume I would have to go through the same tests that Julia has been helping you with."

"There will be some formalities, yes, but Darklighter here assures me that you are a Tan, and therefore in a very elite class of Jedi pilots, and the only other living Tan is Master Skywalker."

Saesee inclined his head in a half-nod. "This is true enough. I suppose I can put this old girl back together enough to fly her out by the time that you would normally be leaving with Julia, if you so desire. Or is there a ship waiting for me?"

"Well, as good as the _Aethersprites_ are, Rogue and Renegade are using the X-Wings now, they are a bit heavier than the _Aethersprites_, but just as nimble with heavier firepower."

Saesee broke out into a smile for the first time since they had arrived. "Very good. I have been wanting to try those out. I have heard that they are very maneuverable."

"They can be kind of touchy," Biggs warned him.

"If it has wings and an engine, I can handle it. Touchy or not."

"Yes, sir, Master Jedi," Biggs said. "If you would like to get a short lesson in the craft, Boss said he'd take you back."

"Are you hiding this little meeting from my Apprentice?"

"We don't want to get her hopes up, if things don't work out."

"I am not admonishing you, but take care. If she decides something is worth knowing, she is tenacious enough to find out everything there is to know about it, and you should consider who her other two-thirds are."

"Don't I just know it. Don't worry, I can handle Nikki. I just hope that Master Skywalker doesn't hit the ceiling when he hears about this."

"I somehow doubt that will be a problem."

"Alright," Biggs said, a bit confused, but he didn't know Anakin the way that Saesee did, and whether or not Julia was doing dangerous but useful work would or wouldn't be high on his list of concerns. If things went well, he would be on the squad with Julia, and Julia was safe enough in his care.

**

* * *

New Ralltiir, 39:4:7 **  
Darth Maul was sitting in his room when the door opened. This wasn't supposed to happen, so he was on his feet before the door was all the way open, but he didn't have his lightsaber in his hand. Not that it turned out to have mattered; it was his Apprentice who was the one opening his door. "You were supposed to go to the Factories with your last delivery and wait there for me."

"I ensured their delivery and came here. I thought it best to inform you that on all three of the planets I went to there are Jedi running the negotiations. They aren't laying down on the job, either. No matter what we have done, rumors we have spread, anything, Jedi are the closest thing there is to an impartial party and are called in to arbitrate everything from minor disputes to these high level trade negotiations that we are trying to thwart."

Maul nodded, already three steps ahead of what she was saying, planning out their next moves. "How are things going in the Seswina Sector?"

"Shiava will probably not successfully block another trade treaty, but Eriadu could not find the Jedi who was supposed to be negotiating there. I heard something about a ruckus in the capital, but I had a schedule to meet, so I did not get more information."

Maul nodded. "Go find out what is actually going on in Eriadu City. Something has the local population stirred up here, I'm not certain exactly what. I need to find out what it is before it gets out of hand, but you can handle the Seswina sector, can't you?"

"Of course," she said, "It would be my pleasure, my Master."

"Very well," he said, and settled back onto the bed. "If you would like to sit with me, we can go over the next step in our plans."

"Yes, Master."

**

* * *

Qeimat system, X-Wing **_**379-C17**_**, 39:4:7**  
Julia walked out onto the platform where she was normally picked up, but instead of Zev being there, it was Biggs. She frowned at him. "Is something wrong with Zev?"

"No, I was just going to be in the neighborhood anyway, so I told him I would pick you up."

"Why?"

"Save on fuel," Biggs said, intentionally misreading her question.

"No, why were you on Coruscant?"

"I was confirming dinner with the missus and your brother and his wife," Biggs said. It was true as far as it went, though there was the thought lurking around the back of her head that it wasn't the entire truth.

She frowned at him again, though most of the effect was lost as he climbed into the cockpit. She supposed he was used to ignoring inconvenient Jedi assumptions, no matter how right they were. She climbed into the cockpit after him, and scrambled into the back. "So is something wrong?"

"No, nothing wrong, now concentrate on getting us out of here. We have ground missions to start on today."

"How many are going with?"

"I believe we are at 50 total. Cut twelve last week."

"Are we using the X-wings, or just landing and seeing how the ground missions go?"

"I think we are grounded for the day, sadly. but it will allow us to get testing done with the entire remaining pool of potentials."

**

* * *

Shiava, Shiava, Governmental main building, Formal dining area, 39:4:7 **

Cedric was at home in this sort of formal affair, though he was more at home when he wasn't in the middle of a large crowd of people, when he had space to think. Space and time to think were not necessarily the friends they once were, so he had learned to handle the larger crowds as well. Large crowds meant mingling and came with a set of standard actions, conversations, mindless things that he could do without thinking, without relieving himself from the thought-numbing whirlwind that he always seemed to get in when he was around _her. _

The formal breakfast was a simple enough affair, though there was some political jockeying that he was uncertain as to its purpose. He could feel the ebb and flow of emotions and eventually the tide swelled, and something had been decided. There was a sense of finality to the quality of a decision, and he had no idea what had been decided. He felt that they would soon find out, though, and he returned to the mostly mindless conversation around him.

"By request of some members of the delegation," Cedric heard and swiveled his head around to give his full attention to the speaker, a Human male who had thus far seemed to be the leader of the minority party of the planet, or at least of those represented in the negotiations. It seemed more and more that the negotiation parties included secondary parties, and larger groups, all of whom had to agree on the terms of the treaties in order for it to be acceptable. "We request that your Padawan Learner absent himself from the proceedings today."

He could feel the wheels turning in her head, and she made a decision quite quickly. She already had something else she wanted him doing. Now, extremely curious, he waited for her to say something. "Why do you feel this way, Minister Rosjyp?"

"Some delicate topics are supposed to be coming up today, and we would not want to expose such to a young and impressionable person."

"Cedric is many things, but impressionable is not one of them, though I will permit this. He has other tasks for today as it is."

"Thank you, Master Jedi," the man said with a bow.

"What is it that I will be doing?" he murmured to his Master.

"Looking for signs of slavery," she said. "Han discovered a slave on Eriadu, and if there is open slavery in the capital of the sector, then there may well be signs of it here. You can also work on further queries on your statistics project."

"Yes, Master."

**

* * *

Qeimat System, X-Wing **_**379-C47**_**, 39:4:7**  
Garven Dreis had decided to split the recruits into bands of 13, which, with the addition of Julia and Master Tiin, had worked out perfectly. He had lead of one group, Wedge, a second, Biggs the third, and Jek the fourth. He'd sent Master Tiin with Wedge and Julia with Biggs. There were various targets, and several dozen military personnel acting as the bad guys, and also doing foot work to reset targets for the missions, so that they could be reused. "Alright, we need to take this target, but stealthy."

"Yes, Boss. What do you think, me and these three boys," Wes indicated three of the recruits as he spoke, "Sneak around back, and you take the front?"

"I suppose that will do," Boss said, secretly grinning despite his dour expression, because he knew that there were several booby traps on the way there, as well as a nasty, though non-lethal, explosion rigged to go off at the back door. That couldn't affect his ability to lead the team, and so he tucked the knowledge into a hole in his head and went on as though he didn't know that Wes was about to walk himself into an ambush. Meaning that he would not be waiting long enough for them to get into position before he took the rest of the squad toward the front door.

He estimated the time in his head for them to get around to the back unhindered, and added a minute onto that, and then went.

**

* * *

Coruscant System, Hyperspace incoming lanes, **_**Millennium Falcon**_, **39:4:7**  
Han guided his ship smoothly into the hyperspace lanes after the bumpy escape from Eraidu, and breathed a sigh of relief. Kyr, after nearly a full day in hyperspace, had started to open up to him. And now was entering the cockpit. "Where are we now?"

"Coruscant, well, Coruscant system, at least. It'll be a few hours before we make planetfall, even with priority lanes."

"There's a lot of ships out there," he said, commenting on the vast shipping lanes that streamed in and out of Coruscant constantly.

"That there are," Han agreed. Chewie growled at him. "Alright, alright. I'm calling already."

"Calling who?" Kyr asked fearfully.

"My wife," Han answered, dialing into the Jedi Temple system, and then his familiar home extension. Unfortunately, no one picked up. He tried Luke's reasoning that she might be visiting him. No answer there either.

With it being nearly dinner time he reasoned that it was possible that Luke and Leia were both in their parents' quarters, getting ready to eat. He commed there and got an answer. "Skywalker residence," Threepio answered, and the image of the gold-plated droid resolved on the screen. "Oh, Captain Solo. It is you. How are you today?"

"Fine. Is Leia around?"

"No, I'm sorry. There is no one here but me. Even Artoo has gone off on an adventure. Mistress Leia was here earlier, and she looked distressed. If you don't mind me saying, it looked like she was going into labor. She and Miss Jasmine left without even a word to me. Master Luke left just after breakfast and hasn't been home, and Master Anakin went somewhere, Force only knows when he will..."

"Threepio," Han said, and the droid stopped babbling. "I will be home in a couple of hours. You can tell me later."

"Yes, sir. I will be expecting you," Threepio said and he disappeared as the communication dropped.

"He sure does talk a lot," Kyr said.

"I noticed," Han said. "I hope this doesn't mean that I'm too late. I mean, it started earlier today, so I can't have missed much, right?" Chewie growled comfortingly. "Maybe I can get her comlink."

That idea didn't pan out either, making him extremely worried. "I'm out of ideas. Maybe Master Mundi can raise someone who knows something for sure."

"I'll go ask him," Kyr vollunteered, scurrying away before Han could tell him no.

Chewie growled a suggestion, and Han dialed up Anakin's comlink, but it started to route him off-planet, so he cut it. Anakin wouldn't have a clue what was going on if he wasn't even on the planet. "Luke will know, won't he?" he asked mostly himself as he dialed Luke's comlink.

**

* * *

Qeimat System, **_**Revelation**_**, Battle Platform, 39:4:7**  
Julia trudged up to the LAAT, which would be transporting them back to the Battle Platform. "Master Tiin," she said, surprised to see her Master.

"Yes?" he asked mildly, with no note of her title or relationship to him. "You are surprised to see me here?"

"I don't suppose I had thought about seeing you here, no," she told him with a frown. "Are you going to be recruited to Renegade Squadron?"

"Oh, my, no. Just helping out for the day. Something like what I hear about a particular young lady doing."

"Yes, Master Tiin, when I can."

He nodded, satisfied with the conversation, and though she wasn't entirely, she could pick it up at home later if she so chose. Master Tiin went up to the front where a small command room had been set up and sealed off, though it had been sealed with mostly transparisteel, so she could see the holographs they were projecting. Not that they weren't meaningless garbage without any sort of commentary. There were bar graphs, for the most part, maybe some statistical data, which had some impressively large bars, though they added in more, and the impressively large ones became much less so. Though she hoped that wasn't a bad thing. Whoever had those extreme bars was either a shoe-in or would be cut tonight.

"Hey there, Nic," Zev said, sitting beside her.

"Hey," she said back.

"I heard Boss and Biggs were cooking something up last night. I hope this is the end of that kind of nonsense."

"Not til they get the new squad put together," she told him. He already knew that, but he was just making small talk.

"How much longer you think the galaxy can survive without us doing our thing? Boss says there's noting urgent enough to pull us away from this, but we are one of a kind in the work we do."

"And if you have Renegade to share the work load, it will be easier."

"When they get up to speed."

"You aren't going?"

"Nope. Wes and Jek. Biggs heading the whole thing up. Giving him a big head, I tell you."

"Why do you say that?"

"Every time I turn around, he and Boss are in secret meetings together. Some problem they're trying to work out. Something with the new recruits. I think they are fighting over a recruit or two," Wes told her with a wink. "Eh, but that's just a theory. No one knows, and it's making the rookies nervous. I know that it will all work out, but they want on the team, you know."

"And there are 38 of them and only 12 slots, total."

"Well, according to them, there are only 3. Renegade hasn't even gotten a bad reputation yet, let alone a good one. They are all competing to hit those three Rogue slots."

"Isn't it more about personality now? Wasn't that what you were telling me last week?"

"Ah, so it was, but they haven't figured that out yet."

She giggled, "Are there any that are not working well with anyone?"

"Not like your dad. 'Play well with others' wasn't exactly a message he got really strong, was it?"

"Dad can work with other people. He gets along fine with Master Obi-Wan."

"Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has the patience of the dead, can get along with _anyone._"

"Dad is not that bad."

"I beg to differ. He is one of the most abrasive people I have ever met."

"That's just because the first time you met him was flying headlong onto the landing pad and what stopped you from cracking your head open was his foot."

Wes shrugged. "That may have been."

Julia snorted, turning back to watching the incomprehensible images that Boss and Biggs were talking about with Master Tiin looking on quietly.

**

* * *

Coruscant, 39:4:7**  
Luke's com went off, and he answered it. "Skywalker," he said automatically, then rolled his eyes. Hard to break some habits, he thought.

"Luke?"

"Right here."

"What's going on with Leia? Is she in labor?"

"I haven't been home all day, I'm off chasing leads on Celia, she's gone missing."

"She was fine this morning though?"

"Yes, Han, Leia was fine this morning when I left. Why don't you try her com?"

"Already tried that, she's not answering."

"Try Jasmine's; if something is wrong with Leia, I imagine Little Bit will be right there."

"That sounds like an idea," Han said, sounding relieved. "Be home in a couple of hours."

"Good to have you home," Luke said, "see you soon."

**

* * *

New Ralltiir, Docking Bay, 39:4:7**  
Anakin was exhausted after his day. First Ahsoka had cornered him and made him go through the memories of his current life. He both resented and appreciated the act at the same time. There were so many moments that had turned out so differently, and the effects on his life had been so great, which had been the intention of giving Obi-Wan so much of his memory. Which had been his intention. And with Palpatine gone, the temptation to go to the dark side vanished. He was a better adjusted, more level-headed, more whole person. Which contrasted even more strongly to the Sith persona he had taken on originally.

After they had landed, formal lunch, and negotiations which he had sat politely through, while in his mind he was working on integrating two very different personalities which were now at war within him. There was the Father, the one who belonged to this universe. Then there was the Sith, now reformed, who had made the Father possible. He remembered too much of his life as a Sith to be able to ignore that life. For that not to affect him.

Later on, Jaedrea had, well, what he could only describe as Skywalker issues. Between him and Ahsoka, they had been able to find out what Maul had done to his young and impressionable daughter. And it hadn't made him happy. In fact, if he hadn't been concerned that they needed to get any suggestions that Maul had implanted out, he would have gone and found him and made him regret having ever crossed his path.

But now, with Jaedrea sleeping comfortably in his arms, he was really too tired to actually follow through with that thought. "I hate admitting to needing help," he said to Ahsoka and Obi-Wan, who were still sitting in the cockpit with him.

"It is not weakness to know that you need help."

"It feels like it," he growled at Ahsoka, who had spoken. She just chuckled.

"Go to bed, grouchy," she told him. It was sound advice, and he tried not to snap at her for giving him perfectly good advice. With a child in his arms, it was actually pretty easy.

He gathered Jaedrea more tightly and stood up. It was going to be a long walk back to the cabins, but he could make it. Padmé was there, and that was enough right this moment.

**

* * *

In orbit around Iktotch, **_**Rogue Tanner,**_** 39:4:6**

Liz felt the ship shudder as it came into contact with hanger deck of the larger vessel. She had her eyes closed and controlled her breathing as she hid in a storage locker. At the same time she was using the Force to conceal the existence of that storage locker. She knew these people were up to no good, but she didn't know just WHAT they were up to. Which meant she had a to-do list.

First, she had to determine just what these beings were doing. The fact that they locked a tractor beam on her ship as soon as it came out of hyperspace proved that they weren't innocent traders. However there were shades of illegal activity, some deserved her attention more than others, which meant she needed to know WHAT they were up to in order to determine what her focus needed to be on.

She waited while they searched her ship, it wouldn't take long no matter how detailed their search, her ship was so small. She followed their presences in the Force, passive, nothing overt. She heard their voices, muffled by the door of the locker. She augmented her hearing with the Force so she could clearly understand them.

"This ship HAD to have had someone on it. Who would send a ship through hyperspace here? It's not the only one that's come here," the first harsh voice said.

"I know...I don't like this hitting such a prominent world, the Republic WILL take notice, don't forget who the Chancellor's husband is," a second voice said.

"Yeah, yeah...I think Skywalker's reputation is pure propaganda, it's obvious that she only keeps him around cause he's good in bed. I mean seriously...just how many brats has that bantha cow pushed out?" the first voice said.

"Don't start...your just jealous cause you didn't father any of them," a third voice called out, this one sounding female, at least if she was human.

Liz had to control her breathing to stay calm at the crude way they were talking about her parents.

"Still, Levin has a point, this is a high profile raid and the Republic and the Jedi WILL take notice of us taking ten thousand slaves so blatantly. Tarkin BETTER be able to make good on being able to protect us from them 'cause it WILL be hot for us," the third voice continued.

Liz was puzzled...who was this Tarkin, and why was he making promises to protect slavers from the Republic. Of more concern, was he able to deliver, for the slavers were right, hitting this world would spark a tremendous response from the Republic. These slavers would be hunted all the way to the Unknown Regions and beyond for this raid.

**

* * *

Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Healer's hall, 39:4:7**  
Jasmine was waiting with Leia and now Master Secura as she sat on the wide window sill in the labor room. She folded her arms around her legs, bundling herself up smaller than normal. She was being the dutiful, level-headed sister, and had called in Master Secura when it was obvious that the twins were definitely coming today. Or tomorrow, depending on exactly how long labor took. Jasmine herself had little experience with women around her in labor, the last in her immediate circle being when Kennis, Obi-Wan's grandson, had been born. Before that, Rain and J.K.'s other child, Olissa, was the last she could recall. And the first-she had been seven, and Olissa was the first of the second generation of Jedi born in the Temple, so she was, in her own way, as special as her mother had been, because Rain had been the first baby born in the Temple in millennia. J.K. was one of the last Jedi who had come to the Temple in the old style, without his parents. They had chosen to keep it that way, when the Temple had opened to families. J.K. seemed none worse for it, as he was like a different sort of uncle for her, one closer to the difference between Luke and Uncle Ferus than her and Uncle Obi-Wan.

"I wish Han hadn't taken that mission to Eraidu," Leia complained. Jasmine could see from the monitor that another contraction was about to hit her, so she waited until her sister was not otherwise occupied before she answered. She could access Luke's memory of her mother giving birth to her, and he had been about the same age she was now, a little younger. She had known that she and Luke had shared a special bond, but she hadn't realized how far back that had gone. Now she knew that he had been the first to hold her. It was very strange to have this memory, but it was oddly comforting.

Once Leia's contraction subsided, she said, "Don't worry, he will be here."

"How do you know?" she asked.

Jasmine shrugged, and her com link went off. She stepped out of the room into the hall to answer it, giving herself a small amount of privacy. "Hello?"

"Jasmine?" the voice on the other end, which was Han's, asked.

"Yes?"

"Something wrong with Leia?"

"Not in the strictest sense, but she went into labor a couple of hours ago. How long before you are home?"

"Couple of hours."

"Well, hurry or you'll miss the fireworks."

"Is it progressing that fast?"

"She is at three centimeters. It's going slow enough that if it takes two hours you shouldn't miss much, but she's been asking for you."

"I'll be there, kid. Just, keep her company 'til I do?"

"I will. But hurry if you can," Jasmine said, and she grinned as she started to put away her com link, but it went off again. "Jasmine here."

"Hey," a voice said. It was Luke this time.

"Yes, Master?"

"What's going on up there?"

"Leia went into labor a couple of hours ago and forgot her com link at home. What are you doing?"

I can't find anything here as to why Ci would disappear. I am about to go question the guy she arrested and see if he would know anything, though I don't see why he would, but it's the only lead I've got."

"Good luck," Jasmine said fervently. "Han's going to be home soon."

"Yeah, he called me first, I thought I'd given you enough time to talk to him."

"Yes, just. I'll get back to Leia now, and Master Secura is here, so she isn't alone."

"Good. I will keep you updated."

"Yes, Master, but I don't know that Leia needs to know what's going on right now, she needs to be focused on what she's doing."

"You are probably right, Padawan. But you will know if she asks. Luke out," he said, and she put her com link away for real this time and went back into Leia's labor and delivery room, a secretive smile on her face.

"Who was that?"

"Luke. He's not really finding anything but he has one more lead to track down before he totally gives up."

"He wouldn't give up."

"I didn't mean give up on Celia, but if there's nothing out there to find, there is nothing out there to find. I think this lead might go somewhere, though." she told Leia. "I think we should know something by the end of the day."

Leia nodded, placated. "And Han will be here?"

"In a couple of hours," she said, which was what she had been told.

Leia shook her head, and Jasmine went back to curling up on the window sill. Of course, if she told Leia that she had talked to Han, she would be believed, but that would negate the fact that she had told Leia he would be there in time several hours before he had called. Not that she cared about proving to her family she was right, but she had been right and she felt vindicated. Another contraction hit Leia, and it had been since before she'd answered her comlink the first time since she'd had her last one, but the contractions were getting closer together, noticeably so. The little girl was in place, ready to come out, and the boy was waiting his turn, so he could be positioned correctly, and he could come into the world as well.

**

* * *

Qeimat System, **_**Revelation**_**, Battle Platform, 39:4:7**  
Saesee Tiin was enjoying the food that had been laid out in the command center as Captain Dreis and Commander Darklighter were going over the results of the day's events. His presence wasn't strictly necessary, but he also wanted to see the results of the day's work before determining whether he could assist Rogue and Renegade Squadrons by becoming their first adjunct Jedi. And he was interested to see what the two men had to say about the things he'd seen on the practice field with the squad he had been with, and he wondered if they'd had those sorts of issues also.

"At first, I can't say that I was really sure how Julia was going to perform in a ground role, but she did well, actually. I'm not sure if she will do better after you join the squad, and she will have her lightsaber as well, but she did fine here. She can fit into spaces far too small for the rest of us, and a couple of times that saved us. Of course, I think it got us into more issues on other occasions. But all in all, I think she did as well as could be expected, considering the impediments she places on herself."

"So my Padawan performed well in her role?" Saesee asked as he looked over the staging statistics that the two leaders were putting up on the holoprojector. Most of the recruits did admirably, well enough that the Jedi would have taken a closer look at them for recruits in their own programs. It was a thought, but one for later.

"She did really well, and today confirmed that we really need about half a dozen more of her on the squad too."

"I somehow doubt you want more than one of her. More people with her skill level, certainly. But she is not as malleable as she might appear. She's being allowed to visit a world that she dreams about constantly, and is therefore on her best behavior. The idea that she could really join a squad like Rogue or even Renegade is only a dream for a time beyond her knighting. This might make her cocky. I'll do my best to mitigate that, but I can make no guarantees. My Padawan is a very headstrong young lady. Now the question seems to be whether the performance you had from me warrants allowing me to be attached to the squad."

"I'd say you did well. There were quite a few times out there you saved my hide, and with no real sacrifice on your own part. I would be satisfied with you joining the squad in an adjunct role." Boss told him.

"As to Julia, she jumped on one of the recruits with both feet and chewed him up and spit him back out. He got himself caught in a trap after she had told him not to go in the direction he went anyway."

Saesee chuckled, because he knew the kind of indignant outrage that she could muster when she felt passionate about a subject, and it wouldn't have occurred to her _not_ to dress down an officer in the Republic Navy. And she'd learned how at her mother's knee, despite her lack of attention to the details of politics. "I can only imagine. Did it seem to make a difference?"

"Somewhat. It would help if the recruits knew enough about her to give her the respect she deserves, but we've spent so long with the idea that she's 'just Nikki' that actually promoting her into a position where she can be who she really is..."

"Julia is not shy about her feelings. It can be as much a benefit as a curse."

"Yeah. I was just thinking that it wouldn't have even occurred to one of the Rogues not to listen to her if she said that there was a trap."

"Do you think it will change her relationships with the rest of the squad significantly if we allow her this position?" Saesee asked.

"With the Rogues? No, I doubt it. They are still going to give her just as much hell as they always have. For a lot of the squad, she's like the kid sister they never had, and I'm pretty sure that all of them know who she really is, but we have let her pretend that she's not. She just wants to fly, and this gives her a way to do that without having to pretend," Biggs said

"So are we in agreement? Do you feel that you could benefit from a permanent assignment to Rogue Squadron?" Boss asked Master Tiin.

"I think that I can handle that, if you will have me."

"We would love to have you, and that's for you, getting Nikki is just bonus on that score. You are a damn good pilot, sir."

"Can you think of anyone else you would recommend, for Renegade, I mean," Biggs asked him.

Saesee thought for a moment, his memory lighting on the fact that Luke had training with Rogue Squadron in his other life. "Perhaps Luke Skywalker. He would probably be agreeable."

"Even with taking the Little Bit as his Padawan? I don't think she even knows how to fly."

"I doubt she would have any desire to do as Julia is doing, but she is comfortable enough around machines. Jasmine is always full of surprises if you aren't watching her closely, so be prepared. For the current, my understanding is Renegade will be much more low-key than Rogue is, so that will suit her better anyway. I won't even begin to tell you Luke's thoughts on the matter, but he is someone I would consider at this point."

"I'll think about it. I'm supposed to go to dinner with Luke tomorrow as it is. I guess that I could make the offer then."

"That is your decision," Master Tiin said, but he could see the boy's mind working toward having Luke on his squad. "Now, what is your decision about Julia?"

"We've got to come up with a better call sign for her," Dreis said.

"I believe that I have an idea," Saesee said with a feral grin.


	14. Celia

**AN:I know I've been gone a long time, but I've been working on various projects, including this. I don't really feel like this chapter is quite finished, but I have nearly 30 pages, and if I don't quit it's going to be months and it's going to be 40-50 pages long. So there are some people who you aren't going to see this chapter, but they will show back up next chapter.**

* * *

**A ship, 39:4:7**

* * *

Celia was in a very uncomfortable position, she noted as she began to regain consciousness. Her hands were tied above her head, and she was stretched out, though she was on her knees. She could feel shackles around her ankles as well, though she didn't know at this point if they were attached to the floor or loose on a chain. It was dark, or at least it wasn't very light, there was nothing trying to peak under her eyelids at least.

"Good, you are awake," a deep voice said. "Don't bother trying to hide it, I can detect the changes within the Force."

She slowly opened her eyes, not trying to hide her surprise at this statement. There was little light, but there was some. In her field of view, there wasn't much, a pair of boots, a stone floor. The stone under her legs was not cold any longer, meaning she'd been in this position for some time. She looked at the boots, they were dark, but not black, though in the meager lighting she couldn't tell what color they were.

She lifted her head slightly, seing darkly colored pants that were tucked into the boots just short of the knees, flaring out more widely than most that she'd seen. The loose fit of the fabric would have served well in combat, she noted to herself. The pants were tailored at the waist, and that led into a waistcoat, vest. Something old-fashioned. It, along with the puffy-sleeved shirt that the vest held close to his body, made him look like a pirate from a very bad holovid.

He squatted in front of her. Objectively, he was quite attractive, but very dangerous looking. Nothing like Jace. She felt a pang of longing, knowing that it would be quite some time before she would be able to get to him if this man was truly the menace that he appeared to be.

"First, let's start with something easy. What is your name?"

She looked at him dumbly. She wasn't about to give him her real name, that could be just as dangerous as having been captured, and if he knew she was a Skywalker, then it would not be easy to get him to underestimate her. "Celajo'eskwal," she said finally, giving him her Twi'lek name, "They call me Celaj, or sometimes just Ci." She coughed, because her throat was dry, and turned her head into her shoulder.

"Celaj," he said. "Alright. If that is your name, no one can fault you for it. Not so awful as some that I have heard come out of the Temple. You are a Padawan to whom?"

"Master Offee," she said. Barris didn't have a Padawan at the moment, but she was a Master Healer, and that made the story plausible. Pairings were not announced outside the Temple, so the fact that she hadn't been seen outside the Temple with Barris didn't mean she wasn't her Padawan. "I am a Healer trainee."

"Ah, the Healer division of the Temple. Up and coming little thing, isn't it? Well I should not have trouble finding something to do with you, then. Until then, we should let you get some rest. You will be needing it," he told her and as he stood, moving back one step, she saw behind him several other guards, which her senses told her were also Force-sensitive and their presences were very dark. "We will be on the move soon enough; it was a good thing that Lett told us that he thought a Jedi was on his trail. I believe that we will have need of such as you soon."

He signaled to one of the men, and suddenly the chain holding her upright was being let out, and she collapsed at the feet of the pirate man, who laughed.

* * *

**Qeimat System, **_**Revelation**_**, Battle Platform, 39:4:7**

* * *

"Julia," he said quietly. "You have been keeping up with your studies while you have been here, as has been expected of you. Do you think you could keep up if you had additional duties?"

"It has been easier than I thought it would be when I began this, Master. I hope I would be able to keep up with additional duties. What did you have in mind?"

His eyes sparkled with mischief. "You will see, young one."

Boss walked up then. "Well?"

"I have left the honor to you."

Boss took a deep breath. "How would you like to join Rogue Squadron?"

Julia's eyes went wide as she looked back and forth between the two of them. "For real?"

"Of course," Master Tiin said. "But you will have to keep up with your classes. And you will have some limitations to your duties until you come of age. And as a full-fledged member, you will have to put up with a new person on the squad in a new position, a Jedi-adjunct."

"Who?" she asked suspiciously.

"I have agreed to fill that role. I don't know if I will continue to do so after your Padawanship is finished, but for the moment, I will add that to my duties."

"Yes, Master," she said gratefully. "So will I be completely official now? Even with my age?"

"Completely official, because you come with me."

"What about Dad? What will he say?"

"I will talk to Anakin. It won't be a problem."

Julia looked at him with total disbelief. "It was so hard to get him to agree to just training with the squad."

"Trust me, Julia, I do know a thing or two about what to say to your father to have him agree to this."

"Yes, Master," she agreed. He had never told her that something would happen and had to go back on that. So she left that in his hands.

"Come on, the boys are going to want to know about this," Boss said, putting a hand on her back, and they moved toward the squad room. "Rogue Squadron form up," he called into the mess hall, and nearly a dozen people immediately scrambled up, following the three of them. Biggs had disappeared with the others that Boss had called out. She was wondering if they were being sent away or given a position on one of the squads, and as she entered the squad room, she saw the two men that Boss had called out, one was Tycho Celchu, an Alderaanian, and Thedor Caredydd, a Corellian. And Biggs.

She suddenly realized what was about to happen, and she squeaked. She felt Master Tiin's hand on her shoulder. This was Rogue Squadron now, minus Biggs. That part made her a bit sad, but she was sure that Rogue and Renegade would be working closely together for quite some time. And that was satisfactory for the moment. "Alright people, take a seat," Boss said.

"I know there's been a lot of chatter about who is going to replace Biggs, Wes and Jenkins. I have actually been paying attention, believe it or not. I have decided that Celchu and Caredydd will be good choices. Anyone with any objections to this had better speak up now, or get over it."

There was a significant pause as Boss gave everyone time to digest the news. Finally Hobbie spoke up. "So we are up to eleven, you gonna drop the other shoe already?"

Boss gave him a small smile. "If you insist. Between Biggs and myself we have decided to add a new position to both Rogue and Renegade Squads, provided he can find someone suitable. I am pleased to announce that Rouge Squadron will be having a Jedi Adjunct, and that position will be filled by Jedi Master Saesee Tiin. Master Tiin is also graciously bringing his Padawan with him, and she will be a full-fledged memeber of the squad, filling our roster out completely."

Wedge spoke up. "Well, I'm sure this will disappoint a lot of those recruits. But Nic? Full time?"

"I can do it," she said. "I want to do it."

One of the new people spoke up, Tycho. "Just out of curiosity, just exactly how old..."

"Trust me, Tycho, she's Rogue material," Biggs said, clasping his shoulder.

"To be fair, if she's a Padawan, she has the Force on her side, but…she looks like my kid sister for Force sake!" Tycho said unhappily.

"Julia is an excellent pilot even taking that into consideration. Her mother and father were both excellent pilots in their own rights, and that seems to have been, ah, distilled, into her," Master Tiin explained.

"Julia? I thought her name was Nikki," said a confused Tycho.

"Oh, it is," Master Tiin said. "Julia Nicole Skywalker."

There were a couple of the members of the squadron who looked just as stunned as the two new ones. "But you still haven't answered my original question," Tycho said.

"Oh," Julia said, "I am thirteen."

Tycho's eyes bugged out, "What are you doing putting a thirteen-year-old onto a squad like this?" he exclaimed.

Biggs started to open his mouth but Julia held her hand up, "Just how much do you know about Jedi training?" she asked Tycho.

"Just that it's reputed to be the toughest in the world," Tycho said.

"It isn't easy for sure. Now more specifically what do you know about Padawans?"

Tycho shrugged. "Just what most people know, it's kind of on-the-job training for would-be Jedi," Tycho said, sounding confused, then he caught Biggs smirk and his confusion obviously deepened.

"Have you ever heard of the Black Sun?" she then asked.

"Yes…" Tycho said cautiously, not knowing where this non sequitur was going.

"And do you remember the slave ring my brother and father broke up about a year ago?" she asked, and Tycho looked at the veteran members for any sign of a joke, but their faces were starting to get somber.

"If your father is Anakin Skywalker, yeah, I heard something about it," Tycho said, sounding like he wished she'd get to the point.

"Did you ever wonder how they got the intelligence to pull that off?" she asked.

"Not really, I figured a Republic spook told the Jedi and the Council assigned him to the mission. That IS how it works, right?"

"With most Jedi, yes, and under normal circumstances you'd be right. However since you'll be dealing with us you should realize that the Skywalker clan is…nonconformist."

"Nonconformist?"

"Yes, not that we can't be team players, but we have very little use for rules that only exist to be rules. Anyway, I'm getting off track. Master Tinn and I were looking for the source of a new drug that had hit the Undercity. It was a rare drug and it affected over seventy-five different species. Highly addictive in all, but it was the effect it had on female Twi'leks that made it highly desirable among a particularly…unsavory subset of slavers. By the time we'd realized what we'd found, the slavers had staged an ambush of us using battle droids," she said and paused to sip some water.

"How many?" Tycho asked.

"Only about a thousand, and it took us about four hours to make it back to our 'Sprites, but we got out with the location of the distribution world where the slaves were being shipped from."

"And you passed that to your father and the rest is history," Tycho said.

"Pretty much," she said.

"How long have you been flying?" he wondered aloud.

"Um, I was six when I was allowed to fly an actual ship for the first time," Julia said, and he nearly flipped out again.

"Six? There are six-year-olds flying around Coruscant space?"

"Not Coruscant, no. And I've only flown basic approaches in the Coruscant system itself, actually," Julia told him. "Well, other than last week when we were doing fly-bys. That was the first time I had ever flown around Coruscant space without a specific, direct flight plan. Most of my flight training was around Tatoo System, which is deserted most of the time. There are a few odd pirates, but they all use a standard approach."

"Tycho," Biggs said placatingly, "She's got more combat time than you do."

"She does?," he asked disbelieving.

Julia rolled her eyes. "I wasn't going to mention that, Biggs!"

"He needs to know, Nikki," Biggs said.

"Master Tinn got most of the kills," Julia protested.

"Only because you were so skilled in setting them up for me, my Padawan," the Jedi Master said, some amusement leaking into his voice at his Padawan's embarrassment.

"You are undoing your hard work on keeping me from pride, Master," Julia said.

"Taking satisfaction from your accomplishments is very different from being prideful, my young Padawan," the Jedi Master said.

"Yes, Master."

"Well, obviously it isn't my call to make," Tycho said, but he still didn't sound convinced, which was just fine with Julia. "But if everyone is convinced that she can do the job, then I will be happy to work with her."

"We should return home and register our new schedules with the Temple," Master Tiin said.

"And we will be back tomorrow?"

"Yes. With the Rogues up to full strength, we must practice together to be ready to take on our next challenge," he said.

"What about a call-sign?"

"What do you think of Little Shrike?"

She considered for a moment. "I like it. Will we still be working with Renegade?"

"I've still got to sort out who will work and who won't," Biggs said, "It will probably be a couple of weeks before I make my final selections, but with Rogue taken care of, I can pare the remaining group down quickly."

"Come on then, my little Shrike, we need to get home," Master Tiin said, cutting off any chance for her to continue the conversation. "Stop stalling."

"Yes, Master," she agreed.

* * *

**Coruscant, Galactic City, Lower levels, Level 2 Holding Facility G-3492, 39:4:7**

* * *

Luke walked into the detention center. He was starting to get a really bad feeling about what was happening with Celia. There was something just completely off about it. "Jedi Knights Skywalker and Jade to see Dudisar Reland," Luke said.

"Moving up the ladder I see," the guard said.

"What do you mean by that?" Luke asked with no humor in his voice.

"Nothing," the guard said, straightening unconsciously. "Right this way."

They followed him to a small room and waited while he got the prisoner.

"You aren't the little bit of a thing that was here before."

"No, that is my sister. I need for you to tell me everything that you have told her," Luke said with a wave of his hand as he sat down.

"I will tell you everything I told her," the man repeated. "She said she would get my sentence reduced by half if I gave up information on Lett, a Rodian who was working for a bit of a thing calling herself Sanaya Grayn. She got the prosecutor to agree to it. I told her about a meeting, a drug deal, something big that had been planned for a couple of months, where she could get evidence of a huge deal for that new Strymryll, and she could get it off the street. I'm not a good guy by any means, but what someone can do with Strymryll just sickens me. I would just as soon not have the stuff around. She's a cute little slip of a thing. She didn't go out there by herself did she? Kind of would miss her being around."

"Where exactly was this meeting?" Luke asked, and Dudisar told him. "You will return to your cell and rethink your life."

"I will go back to my cell and rethink my life."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Landing Platform, 39:4:7**

* * *

Kyr watched in wonder from the seat behind Han as Han directed the ship to light on a landing pad with a good view of the Temple. He had requested a specific landing pad, this one, and the view was amazing. Chewie, his new companion's friend, shut down most of the lights on the switchboard in front of him. Sometime between him hearing that Han couldn't get a hold of anyone and him returning from speaking with Master Mundi, Han had found out that Leia, who Kyr wasn't exactly sure how she would be connected to Han, was in the Healers, and definitely in labor. It was a strange way of putting it-the Healers-because most people went to doctors or hospitals, or medical droids, though perhaps it was some Jedi thing. Maybe he would be a Healer Jedi. He was actually starting to believe that there was a possibility that he would be something other than a slave, something good and right and maybe even big and important. His eyes went wide as he saw at least a dozen people pour out of a door he hadn't even seen and head in their direction.

"Mynocks are coming, better clear out," Han said, and he started to get up. Kyr scrambled after him as soon as he could, and Chewie behind him. He didn't feel unsafe around the Wookiee, because he had no reason to. Though Chewie could hurt him, and Kyr didn't yet understand him, he also was sure, in the way of a child, that he wouldn't do so, or else Han wouldn't have him around. Probably. Chewie trilled a question at Han. "Yeah, stay, make sure they don't do anything they aren't supposed to."

They walked across to the door the 'mynocks' had come out of. That gave Kyr another look at the Temple, with no transparisteel between him and it. The small building they were going into was nestled in between a number of landing pads, and it was elegant in its own way. Master Mundi was right behind them as they entered the turbolift and headed down. Kyr had no idea where they were going, but he trusted that Han wasn't going to lead him into anything really awful. Besides, they were going to the Temple with a Jedi. The turbolift stopped, and they got off, and departed down a long, spacious hallway. Kyr suspected that the hallway was underground, but he couldn't be sure. There were several offshoots, presumably going to rooms that did some sort of maintenance.

It was rather sudden that the hall opened up into an incredibly spacious indoor garden, more lush than a lot of outdoor gardens that Kyr had seen. He wanted to stop and explore the garden, but Han seemed intent on his destination, though that seemed to be directly across the huge space. About halfway there, Master Mundi said, "I must make my report, so I will take my leave of you."

"Sure. See you later," Han said with a wave, not even slowing down. Master Mundi took a sharp left at the next intersection, going to a different part of the Temple, he supposed. This area had to be big enough that it would cover the entire bottom level of the Temple. Which, he supposed, made it handy to travel around in, but slowly would have been nice. On a day when this Leia person wasn't in the Healers' care. Soon enough they came to a door in a wall, and Kyr realized that the plants near the walls were allowed to grow taller to give the impression that the place was bigger. Or to hide the walls, so that the reminders of civilization were minimized as much as possible. Kyr didn't know, but he was getting into the turbolift with Han, so he dismissed the thought for further contemplation later.

"Where are we going?"

"To see the Chancellor," Han said.

"Won't she be at Senate?"

"Probably," Han conceded. "So, maybe we can set up an appointment for in the morning. We'll go by her quarters, see what's going on there, and see about getting you a place to sleep."

The turbolift doors opened and he saw a plain, winding hallway with a number of plain doors, and they went down the hall to a particular door, and Han put his hand on the scan plate next to the door and it opened. A human-like droid walked out of another room into what looked like a common room, saying, "Good to see you, Captain Solo, and who is this?"

"This is Kyr, Threepio. He will be staying at the Temple as a Guest of the Chancellor until she is done with him, and then as a guest in general until, well, whenever."

The golden droid looked at him, then back at Han. "The Chancellor took off unexpectedly with Master Anakin, I'm afraid. Does Mistress Padmé know about this? Have you contacted her?"

"No, but she will want to talk with him when she gets home. I need to get to the Healer's and he needs to go to the boy's dorm, probably."

"You would know best, Captain Solo. I do hope that Master Anakin and Mistress Padmé are alright."

"I'm sure they are fine, Goldenrod. But if you could try to remember to keep track of Kyr when the Chancellor gets home so she can talk to him, I'd appreciate it."

"Certainly, Captain Solo," the droid agreed. "Would you like for me to unpack your bags from the ship?"

"If you have nothing else to do. Master Mundi is reporting to the Council, and I need to get him settled in, then I am going to be on leave."

"Certainly, Captain Solo, and if I don't mind saying so, you've come home right on time," the droid started babbling and Han put a hand up.

"I'll be going now."

"Yes, sir. I will be available if you have need of me."

Han waved agreement to this statement and headed off, in theory toward the boys' dorm. They got into the turbo lifts, which would take them to the dormatory floor, and Kyr was quiet as they headed to where he would ultimately be sleeping for a while at least. "Ok, here we are," Han said to Kyr as they exited onto the mostly open floor.

"My, goodness," an older female Human said to them as she approached. "What have we here?"

Han gave the boy a gentle push in her direction. "M-m-my name is Kyr," he said.

"Oh, well good. And where do you come from?"

"I-I'm not sure Ma'am. I was on Eriadu most recently."

"Good enough, then," she said, turning to Han expectantly.

"Kyr will be a guest. He hasn't been tested for Force-sensitivity, and he will need primary education. He's staying at the Temple for the foreseeable future."

"Parents?"

"Unknown."

"Will anyone take charge of him?"

"I will if necessary, but he's here to speak with the Chancellor."

"He will stay with us here, then," she said. "My name is Arela Na-Beth. I am in charge of the Initiate dorms, which is this entire floor. Welcome, Kyr."

There was a sneeze from the direction of the dorms. "And you get the joy of meeting our sickly one today. You can come out here, Mister Durron, since I know you are just dying to be where all the action is."

A slight boy with dark brown hair nearly instantly popped into existence in front of them, or that was the appearance, anyway. He had run in from the dorm at a high rate of speed, earning a sharply disapproving look from Master Na-Beth. "Hi, I'm Kyp," he said, undeterred either by his illness or her disapproval. "Don't worry about getting sick. I'm not supposed to be infectious anymore. Master Bretha says. I have Burkath flu. Only really dangerous if you have a compromised immune system or are really young or really old."

"I'm Kyr. It's good to meet you."

"I'm heading for the Healers' now," Han said.

"Why don't you take these heathens with you. Mister Durron needs to have a check-up to see if he will be able to attend classes in the morning, and I can go get clothing for young Kyr while you are gone, and the Healers can give him a once over. I'll come collect them when I'm done here, so you don't have to worry about leaving," she said with a smile. She seemed really nice, and Kyr was glad that she was going to be here with him.

"Alright, I'll take them down there," Han agreed, and they were back in the turbolifts. Kyp was a constant chatterbox, and Kyr tried to answer what questions the boy had as best he could, though the barest of answers satisfied the young Jedi for the moment. Once the turbolift doors opened again, Han took hold of both of them firmly, and he was perfectly happy with that arrangement, and they walked into a spacious central area that seemed to bustle with activity.

"Herding younglings?" A Twi'lek girl asked Han, she had olive skin. Twi'leks were about the only alien species he could identify on sight, and that only because they were highly prized as slaves.

"I got roped into it, coming down here anyway, Trina. Master Na-Beth said someone needed to look both of these two over and she'll be by later to get them."

"Kyp can go see Master Bretha, she isn't busy right now," Trina said, and Kyp dutifully trudged over to the office door that he was apparently familiar with. "And I don't think I've seen you before," she said, addressing Kyr.

"I'm new."

"Alright, anything special that we need to know about you?"

Kyr shrugged. She looked at a datapad, frowning for a moment. "I would say Master Allie should see him, but she's off schedule for today."

"Leia," Han said, and the girl brightened immediately.

"Of course. I should have remembered that. I might be able to snatch her away for a bit if everything is going well. Why don't we go see?" she asked as Kyp rejoined them.

Kyr wondered if everyone in the Temple was this brightly cheerful. He might not want to stay, if that was the case, because this could become really irritating.

They walked down a flight of stairs to another part of the hospital, clinic, Kyr couldn't find the exact right word. Maybe that's why Han called it the Healer's. A short and very pregnant brunette was laying on a hospital bed, covered up and looking very irritated. There was a woman with very dark skin, another Twi'lek-this one with blue skin-and a small, pretty, brunette girl in the room with her. All of them looked like Jedi to Kyr, but he probably wasn't the greatest judge.

The glass door opened, and Han and the olive-skinned Twi'lek girl walked into the room with them.

"Look out, here comes some mushy stuff," Kyp whispered into Kyr's ear and held him back a bit.

"Why do you think it's going to be mushy?" Kyr asked.

"That is Captain Solo's wife. She's about to give birth to twins. Babies are a big deal at the Temple-you'll find that out. You'll probably be asked to help in the crèche, especially if you turn out to have potential to be a Jedi and you choose to follow that path. But these babies are special."

"Why?"

"They are the Chancellor's first grandchildren, and they are Skywalkers," Kyp said.

"Skywalkers?"

"You haven't heard of the Skywalker clan?" Kyp asked, stunned.

"Should I have?"

"Master Skywalker was a hero during the Pirate Wars! He was trained by Obi-Wan Kenobi himself!" Kyp said.

"Who is Obi-Wan Kenobi?"

"Didn't you learn ANYTHING in school?" Kyp asked.

"No...my owners never let me go to school. I don't even know how to read," Kyr admitted, feeling a little ashamed over this fact.

"What? What do you mean owners?"

"I'm a slave," Kyr said.

"No way...slavery is illegal," Kyp was astonished. "Master Skywalker will have a FIT, he's crazy mad about getting rid of slavery. He and Master Luke busted up a slave ring last year, but that was mostly Twi'leks they saved."

"That is what Master Mundi and Captain Solo say. I'm supposed to talk to the Chancellor about it. I hope she's nice like Captain Solo says," Kyr said, responding to the fact that slavery was illegal. He didn't know what to make of this Master Skywalker character, or Master Luke. He supposed they were Jedi.

"I can't help with that, I've never met her. Though Master Skywalker is. He's a tough teacher, but you'll like him." Was Master Skywalker connected to the Chancellor in some way? Perhaps they were married. He wondered if he was supposed to know, and remembered that Kyp seemed to think that he ought to at least know the name 'Skywalker.' And this Leia was having twins. Skywalker twins. And they were the Chancellor's grandchildren. Meaning that this person must be the child of Master Skywalker and the Chancellor. Leia Skywalker-Solo, wife of Han Solo, the man who had saved him.

While the two kids were talking Han went over to his wife.

"Hey, Princess. I made it," Han said kissing the pregnant woman on the forehead.

"Han!" she said, and grabbed his hand before a contraction hit her.

"You arrived in a timely manner, Captain Solo. Though we were not expecting you to be here for another two weeks at the earliest," the older Twi'lik said.

"Don't look a gift bantha in the mouth, Master," the brunette in the bed told her breathlessly, bringing her husband down for a kiss before the next contraction hit.

Kyp made a face, "See...mushy stuff."

Kyr didn't quite understand Kyp's revulsion at the display of affection, and didn't really share it, so he kept quiet, watching the younger brunette. He soon found his thoughts wondering what it would be like to kiss her. He watched the unfolding events with growing interest.

"Of course, Leia'wa," the Twelik said with a small smile.

The pretty brunette then spoke up, the younger one, "I told her you'd be here, I don't think she believed me."

Han turned to her. "When did you get a braid, kid?"

"A week ago. You were busy."

He picked up a small braid that hung over her right shoulder. "So, who's your new Master?"

"Luke. What's with the sack of bones you drug in?"

Kyr winced a little at that description of him, but since she was whispering he doubted the words were for his ears. He'd always had much sharper hearing than most thought.

"Sack of bones? Oh, Kyr, he's why I'm home early." Han said.

"Then I owe him my thanks," Leia said squeezing Han's hand.

"Yes, but you aren't going be happy with why we had to bring him."

"Why is that?" Jasmine asked.

"I see Luke's already infected you, kiddo," Han said.

"you have no idea," she said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ask Master Luke," she said with an odd finality. "So why is Kyr here?"

"You've gotten reltentless all of a sudden," he commented, and she turned a whithering look on him. "Fine," he said, "He's here to talk to the Chancellor about slavery conditions in the Republic, in Eriadu City."

Her eyes went wide. "Why?"

"He was a slave until I brought him home with me."

"Sithspit," she said, and jumped down from her perch. She grabbed Kyr's arm and said, "We need to go see Master Luke," then paused, turning to Han, and said, "Is it ok for us to borrow the Falcon?" and took off with such speed that it took everything that Kyr had to keep up with her, for he was under the impression that if he didn't he would be dragged bodily along side her.

"Kyr's got a girlfriend," commented Kyp, the other boy who was merrily skipping along behind them, and when that somewhat plesant thought didn't elicit a response from either him or Jasmine, he said, "Jasmine and Kyr are going to get married," which, since most of Kyr's attention was on keeping up, he couldn't respond to, he blushed, because that would not be an unpleasant outcome.

* * *

******Shiava, Shiava, somewhere in the city, 39:4:8**

* * *

Cedric hadn't been on one of these 'go out and wander around' missions in about a year, since he'd been captured by Sev'rance. He refused to think of her by her Sith name. She, however was gone from the planet, both because she had finished conducting whatever business she had been doing, and because he had seen her. It would have been a difficult thing for him to have made the decision to tell Master Ti that she was there on planet still, and Master Ti would have delayed negotiations to go after her. Which could have caused problems all on its own, especially if they had failed to capture Sev'rance.

But she had been long gone when he'd woken in the morning, so it hadn't come up. Master Ti would have probably liked to know that he'd seen her, but he wasn't ready to part with that information as of yet. He shook himself. He was supposed to be looking for signs of slavery. Han had found such in a bar, which, dispite being taller than his brother, Cedric did not look like he was old enough to enter. He had a bit of smoothing out to do still, and it showed.

So that idea was out. But that didn't mean that there wasn't a way to find things out. There were restaurants, shops, garages, banks, boarding houses, and any number of other places he could enter. He had changed out of his Jedi robes into basic piloting gear, which didn't really help to hide him, but it was the only thing he had with him because he hadn't expected this to be a mission where he would need to.

He had a small number of hard credits in his pocket so that he could make some purchases if he saw something that he actually wanted, or if a shopkeeper seemed suspicious of his wandering around. He entered a shop, this one looked like it mostly held female clothing for a variety of humanoid species, and trinkets that females would, in theory, enjoy.

His mother was apt to wear jewelry if it suited her dress or the function she was attending. Leia wore a kind of wedding band, something that didn't interfere with her activites as a Jedi, but she had chosen to wear this on her upper arm. None of his other sisters wore any sort of jewelry, but he knew that some might either out of necessity or choice later on after they were knighted.

So, should anyone ask, he could honestly tell them that he was shopping for something for his mother or one of his sisters. Leia's birthday was next month, she might appreciate something beyond the usual necessities of life. But that was just his excuse for being in the shop, and the trinkets were scattered throughout the shop, giving him a great excuse to wander the whole of it.

"Can I help you?" a young lady in plain dress asked him.

"Not really. I was thinking I could maybe find a bracelet or something for my sister for her birthday next month. I can just look around, and if I have a question I can ask, if that's alright with you?"

"Perfectly fine, young man," she said, keeping a watchful eye on him and the two other customers as he began looking at one stand of ornaments. It was set above a rack of clothing, and one of the more garish outfits caught his attention. It was something that Sev'rance would have worn, he could easily see her in it. He quickly tried to refocus his attention on the jewelry, but he saw nothing there that would interest him, and moved on to another area, this one closer to the other customers.

He caught only snippets of their conversation, but it didn't seem like ordinary 'girl talk' to him. He stepped over to a rack of bracelets, which was further away from the other two, but he did want to keep up appearances. After examining the entire rack full of them, and finding nothing suitable, he moved on, closer again this time. "Zara, this is perfect, don't you think?" the better dressed of the two asked, holding up a patterned top that looked totally inappropriate for her.

"Yes, milady."

"Do you think I should try it on?"

"I believe it would be a good idea, milady. It is not often that we find something to fit your slender frame," said the girl, a servent, slave, something of a lower class than the woman she was with.

So, at first glance, he had evidence of a class system, which could just be the end of it, or it could be something more. Both of the ladies in question appeared Human, but that did not mean much in this day and age. Some subspecies of Human could pass with no problem, and some could with a bit of alteration, and there were several varieties of changling species who could imitate Humans well enough to pass.

His hands had drifted down to a slinky, nearly sheer emerald dress. It was floor-length, long sleeved, and if it hadn't been so nearly see-through, would have even been conservitive. This was also something he could see Sev'rance wearing. He let silky material fall back to the rack, trying to redirect his attention to the jewlery above the clothing.

There was nothing of interest on the shelf he was looking at, but he saw another one that looked promising, and it happened to be right next to the two ladies. He walked over, outwardly oblivious to them as he inspected the various bracelets, finding one of several strands of different metals woven together into a pattern. He pulled it off the display, checking the price, which was within his budget, and the size, which was small enough that it only just fit all the way around his wrist.

The clerk appeared as the two women headed off to the changing room, "Do you think it will fit your sister?"

"It should, she's much smaller than I am."

"Younger sister?"

"No, my oldest sister, she's just particularly small."

"Ah," the clerk said enigmatically. "Would you like me to ring this up for you?"

"Yes, that will be fine," he said, deciding that he would probably find something more out somewhere else, where there were more people.

* * *

_**Inside an unknown ship heading in an unknown direction, Rogue Tanner,**_**39:4:7**

* * *

Liz frowned as she got out of the storage locker she'd hidden herself in. The nasty pirates who had captured her ship had finally given up looking for her, saying something about letting Tarkin bring his 'sniffers' aboard, whatever those were. This meant that, while she was alone for the moment, that condition was not indefinite. She walked around, working kinks out of her body. She was confident that they hadn't left anyone behind to find her when she had left, and a quick sweep of the ship had revealed no hidden devices. Not that that necessarily meant there were none, but it was a fairly good indication. She had no reason to go into the cockpit, there was no way that she would be flying the ship out of here, and she could access the sensors from the engineering center, which had conveniently been left on by the pirates.

Their ship was, to all appearances, one of the ugly pot-bellied freighters that had popped up in recent years, with huge round cargo levels, and a relatively small bridge that was at the "top" of the ship. The cargo levels were all set to either inside or outside gravity, with most if not all of the levels having a "petal" structure, which could be retracted or set into place as needed. She was in one of the exterior levels based on the curvature of the level she was on. There were locking inter-petal plates that could be extended from the central axis, and it looked as though she was in one of those petals by herself. It was possible that another light freigher or similar ship would fit in the same petal segment, but she didn't know what the intentions of the pirates was. Hopefully they would stop at a planet for some recreation on their way to meet Tarkin. She supposed that fell under Han's 'act casual' mantra, though it remained to be seen whether these miscreants would do so. It certainly made sense. If you didn't act like anyone was after you, most beings wouldn't notice you.

She determined quickly that there were two strategies that she could employ depending on whether or not they were sensible and took a day or two off before going to see this Tarkin. The first was the more preferable, and that was to come aboard as a 'new recruit' during their stay. She might have to work a bit of quick magic with a couple of well placed Jedi Mind Tricks, but that would be the most difficult part of it. Crews like this had two strategies that she'd heard about, the first was to be a very tight-knit group that would be far harder to infiltrate, or one that picked up new crew every stop, dumping up to half their crew. Sometimes they employeed both strategies, a small core group that did most of the actual work, navigator, communicator, captain, pilot, with hirelings to fill out the crew as needed, and could be let go at any port. She was unusually tall, but she didn't look enough like either of her parents to make it impossible for her to pass as anyone other than who she was. Cedric had that problem, though he was an odd mix. He had their father's stature, build, even to looking very much like him in the face, but there was almost nothing of Anakin's personality in Cedric. Not to say that he was not reckless, which some days seemed to be their father's main personality trait. He was just reckless the way that their mother was. Less often and more calculated.

She shook her head, contemplating her other option, should it be forced to it, which was to intergrate herself onto the ship of Tarkin. This idea was going to be considerably more difficult. But probably not impossible. Her ship was not equiped for being captured by pirates, unfortunately. She would need to remedy that at some point. She could ask her father what she could use to access the computer system of a ship that had captured her. In the meantime, the R2 unit she had picked up on Corellia, R2-X3, had been complaining since she'd turned him on that he couldn't move, and she had agreed to fashion him a body, and since she wouldn't be able to do anything else until the ship she was on docked somewhere, she decided that she would do that at least, while she waited.

* * *

**Coruscant, Lower levels, 39:4:7**

* * *

Mara walked beside her husband, with an air of perfect calm and professionalism. Behind them was the now hopelessly lost Jace Aldous, but if he was going to be joining the family, he should, by all rights, know what he was getting himself into.

They were following the directions that had been given to Celia to the location of a drug deal, she was wanting to catch a bigger fish than what she had. Which was how Ci was. And that was part of the problem with Celia. She was starting to think she was all grown up and that made her, in her own way, reckless.

"Here we are," Luke said. It was a nook in the undercity, not unlike any other area this far down in Corucsant's many layers. Most of the areas were, like this, three to four meters from floor to ceiling.

"How can you tell?" Jace asked.

"We followed the directions," Luke said.

"Besides, there's a different quality to the air here, as th-" she heard a small sound, something that wasn't them walking. Luke was instantly quiet. She wasn't sure if he'd heard the same thing, or if he was simply reacting to her change in attitude. She held a hand up to silence Jace. She heard another sound, and this time she was able to pinpoint it. She moved over to a dropped roof nearby, reaching back and picking up a small holocam.

There was a sudden chill in the air as she turned with it in her hands. It was one of the variety that was commonly issued by the Temple. She walked over to Luke, handing him the device.


	15. A Twist

**Coruscant, Lower Levels, 39:4:7**

* * *

Jasmine was overwhelmed. Kyr had been a slave on the capital planet of a prominent sector. It wasn't like he'd been a slave on Tatooine or a similar Outer Rim planet like her father had. She knew that it represented a fundamental breakdown of the system that ensured that laws were followed throughout the galaxy, something that had begun in areas of the Outer Rim many years before when the Republic had not cared enough about small, unprofitable planets to ensure that gangster groups such as the Hutts didn't take control of them. But the causes of such a disastrous breakdown of the system were not obvious, she needed to talk to Cedric to make sense of it all. But first she needed to help Luke find her lost sister.

She could tell that Luke was somewhere near the slave quarter, so she decided that the best place to start would be there, so she had headed in the direction of the turbolift down. Once the three of them were there, she called the turbolift, and now that she was certain that Kyr was completely lost, she let him go.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"To see Master Luke."

"But where?" he persisted. She shrugged. His guess was as good as hers. All she knew was that he was tracking down Ci, nothing about what that was going to entail or about where he was going to look. But she could find him, and that was all she needed.

The turbolift arrived, and the three of them got in. "Skywalker's in love," Kyp said.

She gave him a withering look, and said, "Do you realize that it is very likely that we'll be in the middle of a civil war inside of the next six months?" her tone was calculated to make him quiet.

It didn't.

"War? Don't be ridiculous!" Kyp said.

"I'm serious, his presence here is going to be the spark," She said then caught a the look on Kyr's face and regretted her word choice.

"I don't want to be trouble, Mistress Jedi..." Kyr's voice trialed off.

"Call me Jasmine, I've only been a Padawan a few days, and its not your fault that you'll be the focal point of this war. I sense this has been coming for a long time."

"I don't want to cause a war..." Kyr said.

"Oh jeezeee...he gets the attention of a Skywalker woman and all he can say..." Kyp cut himself off at Jasmine's raised eyebrow and blushed as he realized he'd spoken aloud.

One of the few wonderful things that had come from having received Luke's memories was that she had gathered a wide array of facial expressions that she could use at any time, mostly from Luke's time with Rogue Squadron. There were so many familiar faces there, and there were a few stray emotions that leaked into her own consciousness concerning many of them had died at the hands of Vader. She understood that her father remembered being Vader, but he was also her father, and she couldn't believe that he would return to the dark side. Not with all of them around to give him the love and support he needed.

The turbolift stopped, and she grabbed Kyr's hand again. She trusted that Kyp would either keep up or find his way home. He likely wasn't supposed to be out of the Temple, but that wasn't her main concern right that moment. If he wandered off, she would call the Temple to make sure that he was picked up. Kyr, on the other hand, was not familiar with Coruscant, and was not Force-sensitive. He would easily get lost in the massive underground warrens, and he would be much more difficult to track down. But Kyr seemed content to being drug along through the place that had been dubbed Slave City, and Kyp seemed just as contented to think up things he thought would embarrass one or both of them. Unfortunately, his presence might make him privy to some of the Skywalker family secrets. Although Mara was with Luke, she could tell because her immediate presence would make his Force-signature echo in a particular way. Leia's presence did the same thing, but it did it in a different way, so the two echoes were distinct. Mara could take Kyr and Kyp away while she had a private talk with her Master. It wasn't that she didn't want Mara to hear; it was that she didn't want Kyp unsupervised while she was trying to figure out how Kyr's status as a slave had failed to be noticed up to now.

She ducked into a promising stairwell, and the feeling that Luke was nearby got stronger. She could hear snatches of conversation, but she wasn't able to tell exactly where it was coming from. "LUKE?" she called out, mentally reinforcing the call through their bond. He came out of the shadows not far from where they were. He was frowning.

"Hey, Little Bit," he said, giving her a hug, "Why aren't you at the Temple with Leia?"

"She's fine and this is important. Who is that?" she asked, nodding toward the other man who was with Luke and Mara.

"This is Jace, he's a friend of Celia's, he works at the emergency dispatch center that she has been training at," Luke said, and the way that he said friend made her wonder if she was missing some implication of the word, but she didn't concern herself with it right that moment.

"Have you found Ci yet?"

"Not yet. We found out that she's been captured, but I'm not sure where they would have taken her. She isn't far, but she's also not conscious, and I think that the people holding her are trying to block her Force-signature."

She gave him a strange look, because she was having no problem determining the general direction and distance of where Ci was. She nodded as she decided that she needed to attack the reason for her visit. "Can I talk to you and Mara alone?"

"Yes," he agreed, and asked Jace, "Do you mind staying with these two while we talk a moment with my Padawan?"

"Yeah, I can do that."

"Thank you," Luke said, so Jace, Kyp, and Kyr moved off a satisfactory distance, and then Luke turned to her. "What is so important that you need to come down here while Leia is in labor and I'm looking for Ci?"

"It's Kyr. Han found him on Eriadu. He's a slave, and from what he was saying, Kyr wasn't the only one."

"And?"

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"Do you have any idea why?"

"Important member planets of the Republic are failing to follow some of the most fundamental laws that we have. Eriadu is the Sector Capital of Seswenna for Force's sake."

"Right," Luke agreed. He was thinking, and the thoughts weren't coming to a good conclusion. "But we need to find Ci before anything else, and we don't even know if she's still on the planet."

"She's still on the planet."

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely. She's on planet, and she's not moving. Can't you sense her?"

"No, nothing more than basics from here."

"So let's go find Ci," she said, and began to head off in the direction she could feel her sister in, but Luke put a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's go back to the Temple, get you a lightsaber in case there's trouble, leave Kyp and Kyr, and get a vehicle. We may be at this a while."

"Oh. I guess it would be a little far to walk."

* * *

**New Ralltiir, Ship Berthing, _Burgeoning Thunder,_ 39:4:8**

* * *

Anakin was just at the edge of consciousness, not that there was anyone else awake on the ship to notice. He knew that instinctively, just as he would have known who was awake if anyone was. He was on a ship, a not uncommon occurrence, and in the ship's captain's room with his wife. His arm tightened around her as he thought about her, and she, comforted by his strength and presence, snuggled in more deeply. He could remember twenty-four years without her presence, and he had learned the difference between need and desire. He needed to have her presence, her love, and her support. He did not need anything from her beyond that, though he desired many, many more things. He could also now, thankfully, remember twenty-four years of raising his children, and the associated time before that.

He knew many more things, both as general knowledge, and as a comparison between the two time-lines, but these simply floated through his mind without taking root. He had not intended to sift through Jaedrea's memories, especially not so very soon after having to do so with his own, and there were some odd glitches that he'd smoothed away. He wondered if perhaps Maul had gotten to Jaedrea, but he was being more cautious than Anakin remembered if that were the case. Then again, the effects of what had just happened to him and the twins were just beginning to ripple through the Force, but that may not have affected Maul just yet. On the other hand, he may have had an entirely different purpose in messing about with Jae. The possibilities were fairly limited, but all of them were nasty things that he would rather not think of being done to his daughter.

In the time that he had actually begun to think about things that had been happening, and things that might have been happening, Padmé had woken up, and shifted to study his face in the low light of the cabin. He kissed the end of her nose, and hugged her more tightly. "What are you thinking about?"

"What to do with Jaedrea," he said, and she smiled.

"She will be fine, and you will let her make her own mistakes."

"Yes, but…"

"No buts. If it's something she can't handle, that's what she has Obi-Wan for. It's not like she's the first one of them to get into a scrape."

"She's the first one that Maul has potentially taken an interest in."

"We don't even know for sure, and you can't wrap her in packing foam until you do."

It took him a moment to force himself to agree with her. "You are right, but that doesn't keep me from wanting to do so."

He ran his fingers through her loose curls, enjoying the small moment, not really prepared for anything else right then, just wanting the comfort of being close to someone who understood him. She sighed contentedly, and he squeezed her tighter against his chest. "We should get up; the negotiations will be starting soon, and I would like breakfast."

"That sounds like a good idea," Anakin agreed, but he made no move to get up.

After a few moments, she uncovered and rolled toward the edge of the bed, and he followed, lightly kissing her neck before he turned his attention to getting dressed. "Do you think it's a good idea for me to take the lead in these negotiations?" she asked him.

He took a few moments to compose his answer. He also took the time to put on his pants. "In the short term, maybe. It will get this particular set of negotiations finished in short order, but in the long term, I don't think it's the greatest idea. Other systems might get resentful because you are perceived as being heavy-handed, and this system might grow resentful because they begin to feel that you've forced them into a deal they would have otherwise rejected."

He focused on her then, because he had been thinking rather hard in order to render his opinion for her, and she was staring at him, rather amazed. "I believe that you are right. I'm not entirely sure what to say, but yes, that is probably what would happen."

"So do you want to stay here and focus on finding out what's going on outside the negotiations?"

"No, I will go, but I will make it clear that Obi-Wan is still in charge of this whole mess. You, however, are free to do as you please, I suppose, though I think it would be a good idea to discuss your activities with Obi-Wan before you go traipsing about the planet unsupervised."

"I am 46 years old and a Jedi Master, I am perfectly capable of going out without consulting anyone," he said, indignant.

"Of course you are, dear," she said with a kiss on his cheek as she passed by him.

"Stop teasing me," he warned, and she turned around.

"But I've only just started," she said, with a twinkle in her eye.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Lightsaber Construction areas, 39:4:7**

* * *

Mara took Jasmine down to the lightsaber bay, where a number of lightsabers were kept for the use of any Jedi who needed one either temporarily or, rarely, permanently. A large number of the ones currently in use were made by Anakin himself, but Jasmine would only need one for this mission and perhaps the next, until she had time to sit down and create her own.

While the two of them were choosing a blade, Luke was getting a speeder from the garage, and the two boys were being returned to Master Na-Beth, who was in charge of the boys' dorm. Jace was staying with Luke, mostly because he would probably be easily lost in the unnavigable hallways that made up the majority of the accessible levels of the Temple. Well, they tended to make people unfamiliar with them easily lost. There were no signs, numbers, directions, or anything to indicate where one was or where one should go. There was, in general, no need for such measures. Most of the members of the Temple were either Force-sensitive, in which case they could find their way through the Force to where they wanted to go if necessary, or they had lived in the Temple all or most of their lives. Or both. Mostly both, actually.

Jasmine found a thin hilt that seemed to fit her small hands well. "What do you think?"

"Try it out," she said, stepping back. Jasmine lit the green blade, and swung it carefully in the small space.

"It's alright, I guess," she pronounced, flipped it off, and attached it to her belt.

"What do you think of it?"

"It looks like one Daddy made for Leia when she couldn't find her 'saber for a week because Jae hid it in her bed, I think."

"You remember that?"

"I remember how red Leia got when she found it, so yeah, I guess I remember."

Mara shook her head, because the triplets had only been about three at the time, and Leia hadn't had her 'saber for all that long when that had happened. Finding Jaedrea curled around it one morning had been the first indication that Jae was in the stage where everything that hadn't been nailed down belonged to her, and a good many things that were nailed down as well. The three girls had been sharing a room at the time, so earlier incidents were not attributed to any of them in particular, but Jasmine had never been so inclined, and Julia was too enthralled by the idea of getting into a flight simulator to be bothered, so that had been the beginning of trouble with Jae.

Jaedrea had actually been interested in the flight simulators as well, but since she usually instigated most of the trouble that the triplets got into as a group, she wasn't allowed as many privileges as Julia. Jasmine had expressed little interest in the whole affair, though Luke could coax her into getting into the cockpit with him. Perhaps Mara should have seen Luke becoming Jasmine's Master sooner, but she hadn't. "Are we ready to go?" Jasmine asked her, pulling her away from thoughts of a simpler time when she had simply been a Padawan herself, and the triplets hadn't even become Initiates yet.

Mara sighed. "Yes, we need to get going if we are going to find Celia tonight."

* * *

******Corsucant, Berth 13786-2-38-1, **_Terrin Run_, 39:4:7

* * *

Gethor Alenx, who was the captain of AS-5, an elite group put together by his Master, Jorus C'Baoth, in order to save the true teachings of the Jedi from the corruption that had permeated the entire Temple, and most of Coruscant besides, was coordinating their exit from the hostile environment of the New Order. His Master had trained him for about ten years, and then he and his Master had each been able to find new Padawans in short order. They had begun training the two younglings, and were about halfway through it when his Master had been killed, and the Pirate Wars had ended. Gethor had seen the wisdom of going into hiding after that, and had been able to finish the training of both of the Padawans. That had earned him the right to become a full Jedi Master, and he had taken the title at that time, fifteen years ago. The three of them had each found a Padawan to bring into the true way of the Jedi, and had taken ten years to train each of them. Master C'Baoth had told him that it was imperative to find and train as many Jedi as possible in the old ways, the true ways. No attachments to anyone outside the Order, and ready and able to serve the Force. Now there were six Padawans who were training in the way of the True Order, and they had picked up a Padawan from the Order of the Lost.

They desperately needed someone who was trained in healing, but he had a niggling desire to get rid of this one as soon as possible, that she would only be trouble, and that he would not enjoy the results of keeping her around. This was something he would have gladly done, especially since she could only belong to the the instigator of the New Order, Anakin Skywalker. He had tested her blood on the new scale, that went to thirty thousand midi-chlorians per unit, but she was off the charts. So, unless the Jedi of the New Order had found a way to increase someone's midi-chlorian count, she was a Skywalker. And she had been able to lie to him convincingly about it. He reviewed what he knew of the Skywalker Clan, which was, for the most part, what anyone who had an interest would know.

There was Anakin, of course, and Padmé, and they had had twins, who were about to turn 24. She wasn't one of that pair. Another had come along four years later, and after that a set of twins. That was her likely place; the second set of twins. There was a big commotion about the last of the Skywalker children-triplet girls. The occasional Skywalker family picture put the youngest three as shades of brunette, but the second set of twins were both blondes. Anakin had only had two male children, the rest were girls, but one of each pair of twins was one of those boys. It was an anomaly, an oddity, but that didn't really matter at the moment. Celia, that was who he had. Celia Skywalker, not Celajo'eskwal, though he'd heard that some of the Skywalker clan had been adopting Twi'lek names from grateful people that they had saved.

She was actually a Healer trainee, Padawaned to Stass Allie, not Barriss Offee. She had been able to sell him on half-truths and the occasional outright lie. She was brazen, thinking that he wouldn't find out who she was. Of course, if he hadn't done the midi-chlorian count, he might have never found out. Now he had to weigh the problems of her being a Skywalker with his need to have a healer. He finally decided that the need to have a healer, any healer, even a troublesome trainee who was the child of the one who had brought the New Order overrode any foreseeable problems that she could create. Her presence brought their group up to thirteen, and the likely need to have her locked away most of the time would necessitate purchasing a different ship. That didn't pose a problem at that moment, because of the work Nasir Renolda, his Master's second Padawan in the True Order. Nasir was quite the financial whiz, and had been able to put together several schemes that had made the True Order quite a bit of money, enough for them to be comfortable, at least, and would continue to do so for generations to come, and the income would expand naturally with the organization. But it was up to Gethor to determine what kind of vessel they needed, and if they needed to sell the one they had, or if they should store it in some way until they could get someone there to pick it up.

So, while he was looking at new vehicles to get them back to the Outer Rim, he was paying less attention to his prisoner. She had been most of the way unconscious when they had brought her in, and yet she still shined in the Force brighter than any of them. She had woken up, druggy, barely conscious because of the small amounts of damage that would have surely been done when she was buffeted by all the concussion grenades that the drug traders had used on her. After a short conversation with her that had satisfied his initial curiosity about her, she had been allowed to sleep, and she had simply shut down. Her Force-presence, Force-signature, vitals, everything had been reduced by at least 90%. He had no experience with any such technique, and when she came out of it, he would definitely question her about it, but for now, she was being left alone, because there was no way to know how it would affect her if she was brought out of her trance early.

And then it happened. She was fully conscious, her cell was open and her cuffs were off, and she had pulled the lightsaber away from the belt of an unwary Padawan who had been guarding her cell. She pressed the advantage of surprise, wounding the Padawan, but not severely, and he spun around, lightsaber in hand. They crossed swords, and the rest of the True Order stayed out of it, to see what, if anything, this young Padawan could do in a true duel. She held a defensive stance, a proper one for a Healer, but he did not attack immediately. "You lied to me."

"Why do you say that?" she asked him, genuinely puzzled.

"You are far too powerful to be anything but a Skywalker. I'm surprised, Celia, that you expected your little ruse to last any time at all," he said, trying to keep his anger at this outrage in check.

She frowned. "You did a midi-chlorian test on me?" she asked, tilting her head to the side, as though she was trying to figure him out. She probably was.

"Of course. It is a good indicator of how hard I can work you," he said. "And it also gave me valuable information about you that I wasn't getting from you directly. You are able to make half-truths and outright lies without me picking them up through the Force. I will not underestimate you again."

"What have you got planned?"

"For the moment, you will go back into your cell, and you will not try to break out again. If you do not do this, the consequences will be severe. And you will meditate on lying, both with word and intent. If I catch you in another lie, either one of intent or of words, you will not enjoy the outcome of that revelation."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 39:4:7**

* * *

Luke had found a speeder that would hold five, which he needed in case they actually did find Ci. Jace would be coming along with them, and Mara and Jasmine. Luke had wanted to check on Leia, but they really didn't have the time. He was fairly certain of that fact. Mara and Jasmine came back from the trip through the Temple, dropping off Kyp and Kyr and picking up a suitable lightsaber. "Ok, Little Bit," he said, "What can you tell me about where Ci is?"

"She's further away than where you were when I found you. I think she's still in the same place though."

"Ok, so let's head in that direction and see if you can pinpoint anything else," he said, and Jasmine got into the front seat with him and Jace and Mara got into the back.

* * *

**New Ralltiir, 39:4:7**

* * *

Darth Maul looked over the notes his spy had taken of the happenings the day before, and he scowled at the datapad the report was on. The Chancellor herself had arrived, along with a significant Jedi contingent. Her husband-that was to be expected-his Padawan, as well as two other Jedi that the spy could not identify, but they were a Togruta and a Nautolan. With both being female, it was likely these were Skywalker's first Padawan and her Padawan. That would make things easier in some ways, because, in a way they were all family, and that meant that they all had the same sort of training, and they thought in the same way.

Though that could be a fallacy, and it could get him into a great deal of trouble falling into the thought that all of the younger members of the Skywalker-Kenobi Clan were miniatures of Anakin Skywalker. He would definitely have to be careful about that thought.

With this many Jedi, especially this many from such a prominent group within the Temple, so far from home, so far from help, it presented an interesting array of possibilities, though. Consideration of that would have to wait, as their presence impeded his immediate plans and they needed reworked. His primary reason for staying on the planet was that, absent the Jedi, this was a safe place to work and rest. He had no need to impose himself on areas of his organization which were working well, which was most of it at current. His second reason was that he was expecting several packages. The dealings with the trade negotiations were third at best overall, though they were primary on his planning list for the day.

The thing that struck him was that he had Anakin, both his Padawans, one of his Padawan's Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and one of his prolific offspring, not to mention the Chancellor of the Republic. He had the opportunity to rid himself of a large swath of enemy forces. And that was worth considering making this the opening volley in the war he'd been planning for thirty some years. He considered it most of the day, until Teroilt came for his evening visit. At that point, he'd almost made his mind up against the idea.

"Jeres, I don't know how this has happened. They have almost hammered out a deal; a five year contract with extension clauses, automatic raises every year, social programs, everything we could hope for," Teroilt gushed as he walked into the room. "Even with the Chancellor there, it's going well. She's just observing, not making any moves for or against us."

"And the hold up is?"

"Whether to make the renewal binding. I think that they will, it would be what I would do in their place, but Ku'pymuh is not thinking of the future the same way that I am. The binding renewal would make everything so much easier. Just think, never having to worry about the negotiations again, always having an increase in the amount that's being paid for our product."

"An admirable thing for any negotiation to strive for," Maul told him. "So the negotiations are expected to wrap up tomorrow?"

"They sure are, I'm so glad you've been here to be my sounding board; I am sure that we wouldn't have gotten nearly the concessions out of Coruscant if you hadn't helped out."

"I'm sure you wouldn't have," he agreed, the wheels in his mind already turning. He'd been trying for a subtle approach in getting this negotiation to fail, but he hadn't counted on them sending their top negotiator here. He was sure that Obi-Wan Kenobi needed no help from Padmé Amildala. She was good, but he was better, in addition to having ten more years experience. He still remembered the first time that he'd seen any of them; Tattoine, thirty-six years previous. His lips tightened into a thin line, for even back then, Kenobi and Skywalker were too much for him. The thrice cursed Chosen One, from what he'd been able to get his hands on. "I have much to do, thank you for the information, Teroilt."

"Sure, no problem," the man said, heading down to the brothel, Maul was sure.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Sick Bay, 39:4:7**

* * *

Leia knew that the twins were coming fast and they would be there soon, probably before Luke and Jasmine returned. She wanted Luke to be there, but she needed Celia to be safe. The best way for that to happen was for Luke to find her. And Jasmine had taken off in an awful hurry, but that was not something that she needed to be concentrating on. What she needed to be focusing on was the birth of her children, who were insisting that they needed to be born that day, if not that very instant. A contraction doubled her over, even with her being in bed, and concern was apparent in Stass Allie's face as she came over from a quiet discussion with Han. Probably something about keeping her in sedate, quiet activities that were suitable to new mothers. After a few moments, she announced, "It's time."

"Time for what?" Leia asked suspiciously.

"Time for the babies. Time for you to start pushing."

"But Luke's not back yet," she complained as Master Allie arranged her into a position that was probably more conducive to pushing.

"They don't care whether he's here or not, they are coming. He will be able to come meet them when he has time, he's got a full day, so I don't see that being soon."

She knew that Celia was Stass's Padawan, but the impact of her being in danger hadn't hit beyond the immediate family for Leia yet. Luke had to look for Celia, and Stass Allie had to be here with her. It was the proper way for things to be, despite Leia's wishes for things to be different. Another contraction hit and she started to push along with them.

* * *

**Shiava, Shiava, Outskirts, 39:4:8**

* * *

Cedric had yet to find hard evidence that there was slavery going on on Seswena, though he had observed some indirect evidence of it. There were slaves, he was fairly certain of that, though he could not prove it; they could just as easily be some sort of low class household servants, though he didn't remember household servants being a major part of Seswena's lifestyle as far as his studies went. Not that such studies were either terribly recent or terribly thorough, in Cedric's mind, but he was sure that this would have been covered.

He had been wandering for most of the day, getting further and further away from the center of the city they were in, where the government buildings were, when he came across a dirty square of land that was roughly fenced in. Curious, he examined the surrounding buildings, and found a sign that said there was a sale daily, and it was coming up in less than an hour. Cedric looked around, finding a nearby building that suited his needs as an observer, and used the Force to jump to the top of it after carefully making sure no one could see him.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, Skywalker Central, 39:4:7**

* * *

Julia hadn't had a pleasant time with the man who would have been called a principal at any other school. Jae was on a mission, and Celia was missing, Cedric was off on a mission, Liz hadn't turned in work lately, but she was on a mission as well, and only Jasmine was attending school as a proper child should, and she was asking to be put completely on self-directed study, when she'd never shown more than average to above average skill and proficiency in accomplishing her work.

But, she'd got it done, promising that if she fell behind, he would be able to re-enroll her in school, which she didn't like to have to make that caveat, but it was the only sticking point to her being able to accomplish her desire now: to be a pilot and working full-time with Rogue Squadron. Now she was at the door to the quarters she shared with most of her family. The door opened, and there was no one inside. No Mom, no Dad, no Ash, no Leia, no Luke, and no Jasmine. A full half her siblings were off-planet, but there still should have been someone. "Hello?" she called out, and Threepio came out of the kitchen. That seemed to be where he spent most of his time, even though there was no particular reason for him to be in there all the time, there was no particular reason for him not to be.

"Miss Julia, it is good to have someone home."

"Where is everyone?"

"Master Anakin took off for New Ralltiir, and Miss Padmé went with him. Miss Leia is at the Healer's, and Miss Jasmine is with her. I believe that Master Solo is home and has joined them there. Master Luke has been looking for Miss Celia, as she has been missing since sometime yesterday. Miss Mara is with him."

"I think Jaz is with Luke," she corrected him absently, then sighed. "Is Leia having her babies?"

"I believe so, I am staying here as I seem to be rather in the way, and mostly useless for the process."

"I'm sure you're fine, Threepio. I guess I'll go down and see Leia, then," she said, her joyous news deflated by the urgency of what was going on for her sister.

"Are you preparing for a mission?" Threepio asked her as she put the large number of datadiscs in her room.

"No, I'm just not going to school any more. I'm going to Rogue Squadron full time now."

"Have you considered how your father will take the news?"

"Master Tiin said not to worry about it," she said. "But yes. I don't imagine he will take it well."

"Oh, my. This will not end well," Threepio predicted, and he fluttered around the living room for a while. Julia ignored him, used to the histrionics of the peculiar droid, and it didn't bother her in the least.

Julia changed out of her flight suit and into robes quickly, and went to the Healer's to see what was stirring up there.

* * *

**_Cobalt, _En route to the _Death Star_, 39:4:8**

* * *

Sev'rance Tann woke from troubled sleep; it was her new constant companion. Before, she hadn't thought too much about what happened, to her, by her hand, in front of her, because of her. But now, it troubled her sleep. Enslavement of tens of thousands of beings, deaths of thousands at her hands.

She stretched out, then curled back into a ball. Cedric was offering her everything she wanted, if she would only give up everything she knew. The views she got into his world were tempting. A place without darkness, without death constantly around him. She understood that it wouldn't be easy, or fast. That didn't matter. That the things she was promised by him would eventually happen was all that mattered to her. She wasn't sure that she had it in her to surrender herself to anyone, even to Cedric. She could still almost taste his skin on her lips, and she desperately wanted him there with her.

He could soothe her, he could allay her fears, but it was not yet enough. She could feel how close she had been to accepting his offer, she still half wanted to turn the ship around if she could just be in his arms again. But his life was full of rules, and his heart understood them. He had far more patience than she did, but all that did was frustrate her. And he knew that, but he didn't care. Or he cared, but that didn't mean that he would succumb to her will. And he'd given her a picture of perfection in his mind, marred only by reality. If he truly seduced her away from Darth Maul, he wouldn't stand for her happiness. Would living with Cedric's Jedi rules be so terrible?

He didn't seem to think so, he and his family thrived under those rules. His mother was Chancellor, and his father was the premiere Jedi, the one that children pointed to and said, _I want to be like that_. His Master was on the Council, his older brother had been taught by the last Grand Master, and at least three of his siblings' Masters were on the Council. In short, if he wanted something badly enough, someone he knew personally would be able to grant it to him.

His certainty that things were a particular way gave her pause. It was certainty that she had shared until he had come into her life, crashing through it with such force. And a baby? Was it really possible? Her body had been badly damaged by Maul for her many transgressions against the code of the Sith, but the damage that he did to her the several times she'd been pregnant had been the worst. After the last time, she had thought she was so badly damaged that she would actually die, and she hadn't gotten pregnant again after that.

But would it be possible that she could? And if she could step into that world, where her reality more closely resembled her dreams-dreams that had only started since Cedric had come into her life-if she could, the question was would she be able to do so without looking back, without regret?

* * *

**Nar Shaada, A slaving ship, _Rogue Tanner, _39:4:8**

* * *

Elizabeth Skywalker felt the ship she was on transition out of hyperspace. It was subtle; their engineer had to be top notch. But that didn't matter; she knew when it happened because she'd been in space practically from the day she was born.

She reached out with the Force, hoping that she would be able to identify the planet they were on or orbiting. She was; they were orbiting a planet as familiar as it was slimy-Nar Shaada. They were in orbit, but it was likely that they would be landing. Nar Shaada didn't have any orbital structures. So, now it was time to work towards enacting the next step in her plan. She left R2-X3 on the ship with instructions not to let himself be captured if possible. After a long debate with herself, she also left her lightsaber on board, praying to the Force that she would be able to retrieve it later. She slipped out of the ship onto the pot-bellied freighter. She couldn't find any monitoring systems-not that that meant there weren't any, just not any she could readily detect with her eyes and the Force. The compartment that held her ship was mostly dark, a few lights on, but the kind of things that were on all the time, monitor on-lights, running lights, and some of the exterior lights from her ship.

She stayed to the shadows, just in case she'd missed something. Liz could feel the vibrations as the ship entered the atmosphere. She probably should have been strapped in, but as long as their pilot didn't get too fancy, she would be fine. And she would be far quicker to anticipate problems if they occurred than someone who wasn't sensitive to the Force.

After what seemed like an eternity, but probably wasn't more than five minutes, the ship settled into its berth. The ship started to settle, to empty, and to feel hollow, sleepy. She slid along the edge of the room to the control panel, prying the cover off. The exposed controls were easily manipulated, and the door opened easily. After replacing the control panel, she knew from experience that a ship of this type would have a release hatch at the base of the ship, and it likely would be unguarded. She worked her way down the side of the petal that held her ship, and found the base of the ship. The controls on this door were also easily bypassed, and before she popped the bottom hatch, she paused to make sure that no one was watching the base of the ship, and she found that there wasn't even anyone around the berth. She quickly exited, sealing the hatch behind her, leaving little evidence of her passing. After she had gotten a few berths away, she felt like she could actually breathe. She'd gotten away with no issues, but that was only half of her battle. Fortunately, there was no better place in the galaxy to reinvent oneself than Nar Shaada.

* * *

******Corsucant, Berth 13786-2-38-2, _Twisted Mark_**, 39:4:7

* * *

Gethor Alenx had found a ship appropriate to his needs, and had one compartment stripped of all internal components. There was not even a light switch when he was done. Then he had it double reinforced with duridium. A single bunk and a small meditation area were installed, and then he had their unwilling recruit put in the room. "Let's get out of here, before we press our luck too far," he said as the door to her room closed.

"You're planning to keep her?" Laran asked. He was one of their Padawans.

"I don't know," he admitted. "We certainly can't just let her go, she's tenacious and can accumulate the resources to track us down. We will consider our options. For now, we have a rendezvous to make."

* * *

**Shiava, Shiava, Outskirts, 39:4:8**

* * *

Cedric had watched for several hours the rough patch of fenced in dirt; it stuck out somehow in his mind, and he wanted to see it in use, and then his chance came. A group of thugs, that was the only word he could find to describe the barely-contained violence their large muscles and scarred bodies spoke of, came around the corner of another street. Behind the ten or so large, well-armed beings, there was a scraggly group of thin, nearly naked beings, chained together at the neck. After nearly fifty mostly human slaves, there were another dozen or so thugs, bringing the line to a close.

A gathering had started as soon as the first thugs rounded the corner, and Cedric had minimally noticed, more focused on the defined group that was incoming rather than the crowd that had simply gathered. Perhaps this was a daily or weekly occurrence, or it was simply something "on the wind." That was actually more likely. If someone was looking for a slave, they just asked around until they found out when the next sale would be. He cursed himself for not bringing any recording equipment, but at least Master Ti would know the truth of it. And this hadn't even taken a full day to find. Either he was lucky, or this was rampant. He was betting on the latter, and he was sure that Master Ti and others on the Council would agree with him. Outside the Temple, more proof would have to be provided.

He settled into a more comfortable position, and used a trick that he'd learned, to both focus on everything and nothing as events unfolded in front of him.

* * *

**Nar Shaada, 39:4:8**

* * *

Elizabeth Skywalker looked in the mirror, and found a stranger looking back. She had already brushed out her Padawan braid before she'd arrived at her chosen makeover establishment. Her eyes were now deep brown, a nice contrast to the dirty blonde hair that didn't wash out her newly paler complexion. Her hair was also curled, which felt distinctly odd, but the less she looked like herself, the better. Her angular jaw was softened with a trick of makeup, and her eyes were subtly wider with yet more makeup. The equipment that she needed to maintain this look was easily found; it was the techniques she was learning that she was really paying for. She had one jumpsuit for shipboard duties, but it reeked of being directly out of the Republic's warehouses. She'd found a number of outfits that suited her new persona, so with her bags packed, she was prepared to become Chagall Scoto.

She had found out, by way of street-rat spies and a little bit of pocket money, that the ship that had captured her maintained a small core crew, but hired on expendables who didn't ask a lot of questions. She knew that the implication was that people who asked too many questions would be disposed of in some way. And since they were slavers, that probably meant that if the hire-on crew found out about the slavery, they might just take them as slaves, selling the troublesome crew right along with the slaves they had picked up.

She was fluent in Huttese, and could mimic the heavily accented pidgin Basic that some natives of Tatooine used. Those were Chagall's languages, and a little Rodian. It would be difficult for Chagall to adapt to a crew that spoke mostly Basic, but that would allow her to retreat into her cabin most of the time. She arrived just as a member of the crew to the ship she was looking to get aboard. She recognized his voice, and she worked her way toward him.

"I'm looking for pick-up crew, five people," he said, and she tentatively raised her hand, waving it at him. "Yeah," he said, nodding at her, and he picked out four more, and then got off the platform, letting another take his place.

"Come see the ship," he said, and just like that, she was back on board the ugly pot-bellied freighter.

* * *

**Coruscant, Skylanes, 39:4:7**

* * *

"There," Jasmine directed Luke toward a row of berths that didn't seem any different from any of the others around, but he was only just getting to where he could sense Celia around at all, much less direction and distance. It was, perhaps, less than his ideal of the situation. If he had had his way about things, everyone would be safely in the Temple, anxiously awaiting the birth of Leia's twins. But as with most things in the Skywalker family, life did not follow ordinary planning. Forget a plan not lasting through the first minutes of battle, it couldn't last through morning meditation without being shredded by a nexu.

As they approached the row of space ships, two rose, preparing to exit the atmosphere. What was worse was they were next to each other, but Luke was certain that she was on one of those two ships. "Can we stop those two ships?"

Mara shook her head. "Not both of them, and not in a speeder. We can call Air Traffic and see if they will, but with nothing better than a feeling in the Force, they will be at least somewhat reluctant. Especially if we can't narrow it down to one ship."

"Because a Jedi cannot detain a person for a reason other than suspected involvement in criminal activity," sighed Jasmine as she sank back into the seat.

"Right, and that's because it wouldn't stop at just having a 50/50 chance of getting the right ship."

Jasmine nodded, biting her lip. "But she's our sister, shouldn't that count for something?"

"She is smart and capable. I don't think they would have taken her prisoner unless they were planning to keep her alive."

"She's a healer, so she can be helpful. I'm sure that they won't kill her...if she helps them," Jasmine said. "I can try...you know."

Luke nodded. Telepathic communication was not exactly fast, but when it was the only thing that you had, it was better than nothing. She closed her eyes, reaching for Ci, and made contact. Floods of emotion rocked her for a moment, but she formed the most urgent question, did Ci know what ship she was on?

She didn't know how long she'd been waiting, but she opened her eyes, looking sadly at Luke. "They blindfolded her to take her aboard the ship, and she doesn't know what berth they were in, nothing. They are interfering with my connection to her, I can't tell what ship she's on, I wish I could."

"Hey, you are doing better than the rest of us, I think only Cedric would be able to cut through a group effort to conceal her. I am trying and I can't. There are enough of them that they can put up a fairly effective shield."

"The interference?"

"We'll talk about it later," Luke said, glancing at her; he was curious and a bit confused by something. "I think have a plan. Let's get back to the Temple and make sure that this is alright with Master Windu and the Council, and Han, as this involves borrowing his ship."

Mara reached up and patted her on the shoulder, and she felt a little better. They were going to find Celia, but it was going to take longer than anyone wanted it to.

* * *

**New Ralltiir, Governmental buildings, 39:4:8**

* * *

Obi-Wan sat with the delegation from New Ralltiir, while Chancellor Amidala sat apart from them. She was still within hearing range, and she was sitting close to them, as these proceedings were closed to the public currently. So, in effect, Padmé was the only audience that they had. That seemed to bother Negotiator Designate Ku'pymuh far more than it bothered anyone else. Then again, he'd been chosen seemingly at random; there was no way to tell how the traditional choices were made without getting into the traditions of a particular planet, and most of those were closely held secrets.

This particular man was not a traditional negotiator, had not spent much time previous to the negotiations actually arguing his point. And he seemed to be listening to advice from beyond this room as well, which was not precisely malignant, but close. Every time he and Jadrea had thought that they were close to a deal, this other force would bring another point up to him, and it would start again.

But while that had happened most mornings, that hadn't happened this morning. The deal was almost-_almost_-hammered out. Anakin had made mention of wanting to go off and see what he could find, but to Obi-Wan's senses through his bond, his former Padawan seemed frustrated, that what he wanted to find or what he thought was out there was either not there or more elusive than his patience could stand for today. He was also headed in their direction, so would be arriving in short order.

He smiled to himself, not enough that Negotiator Designate Ku'pymuh could tell through his beard, but his Padawan picked up on his subtle bemusement, and threw him a questioning glance. 'Anakin' he signaled. That he had a special signal that specified his former Padawan spoke volumes about their continued relationship. She rolled her eyes and sat back, and the poor man between them didn't even know that there had been any communication, let alone anything of any significance. "Well, if the Republic can agree to another 5% as a permanent increase starting in 20 years, I think that we can agree to the terms," Negotiator Ku'pymuh said, and Obi-Wan felt like kissing the man. Everything was going to be hammered out on a permanent, increasing contract. He was actually giddy.

"That seems most equitable," Obi-Wan agreed sedately, and noted it on the contract. "If you will look this over, I believe everything we have discussed is there, and ready to go," he said as he handed over the datapad that held the contract.

The negotiator looked it over, and agreed, signing it at the bottom. "If you will just sign here, that will make it official," Ku'pymuh told him, and he agreed, signing the document himself, and sending it electronically to the Senate. He saw from one door Anakin and Ash entering the room, and from the other side, Ahsoka and Nadina.

A strong pulse of warning hit him out of nowhere, and he could see Anakin felt it as well, but there was no direction, no escape. "I have a bad feeling," Obi-Wan said, and the building exploded into fire.


	16. So, what's really going on?

**AN: If you have earlier looked at this chapter, I've dropped about 500 more words into it, clarifying a few things and getting it just right as I prepare for my next chapter. Hope this doesn't cause any confusion, but let me know if I need to fix anything else. **

* * *

**En route to Outer Rim, _Millennium Falcon, _39:4:8**

Luke was slightly apprehensive taking the Falcon out on this trip. Of course, that gave both Han and Chewie a good excuse for a vacation, which he didn't think they would mind. He wished he had time to give his niece and nephew more than a glance, but they were safe and Celia was not. Taking Mara was not his preferred course of action, but she would not be swayed, so he bowed to her will on this. There would surely be some way to ensure her safety while on the trip.**  
**

But that was a thought for later, because she needed something to do besides go stir crazy being left at the Temple. He wouldn't have liked to have been sidelined either, but he understood, even shared the extreme protectiveness concerning the next generation. He shook himself, focusing on the present. The future would take care of itself, he had a feeling. The Temple had already refueled and restocked the _Falcon_ even though it wasn't expected to go out for weeks-always be prepared.

"Ready to go, Flyboy?" Mara called to him.

"As soon as you are, and Jasmine," he called back from the cockpit.

"Let's go find Celia," she said, strapping into the copilot's seat. It felt natural and right, and he smiled at her, starting his preflight checks.

* * *

******Shiava, Shiava, Government buildings, 39:4:8**

It was late in the day on Shiava, and Master Ti had finished her part in these negotiations with the government officials, who were being so difficult. Cedric was nowhere to be found, but reaching out to him did not produce any concern, so she prepared a small meal while she waited for him to return.

He landed lightly on the balcony just as she was setting the plates on the table. "Thank you for joining me," Master Ti said wryly.

"It is always my pleasure," Cedric told her as he sat down. "I saw something similar to what Han described today," he said without preamble.

"That is unfortunate," she said. She turned her attention to her food while she mulled the news over, and he did the same, waiting for her to ask questions, or give direction to their further mission. The meal was finished in short order, in silence. "We will return to Coruscant tonight."

"Yes, Master," he said. It was not unexpected, there were few options left to them. If there were open slave markets in the capital city, then surely the governing members knew about them. Therefore, they must also know that they were breaking the laws of the Republic, while at the same time, attempting to negotiate for a better trade deal with Coruscant's government, and part of that contract included, as always, the requirement that the government of the planet in question enforce all of the laws of the Republic. This was one of the most basic: a being cannot own another thinking being. It did not apply to beasts of burden such as Banthas, but it was not a negotiable law. "Will we inform those we are in negotiations with that we are leaving, and why?"

She considered for a moment before answering. "I believe it will be enlightening to see the reactions of those who are supposed to be in charge."

"Yes, Master," Cedric said, and he rose from the table. "I will get my things packed."

She nodded. "Mine are ready. How long do you think it will take you?"

"I can have the ship packed and ready in an hour."

"Very well."

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 39:4:7**

Julia was admiring with wonder the newest additions to the family, her niece and nephew. It seemed a rather inappropriate time to be so self-centered as to mention her appointment to Rogue squadron, so she just kept quiet. Mara and Jasmine walked in with two males she didn't recognize and who weren't Force-sensitive. "Any leads on Celia?" Leia asked, and Mara shook her head.

"Alive but headed off-planet. Luke was wondering if you would mind lending him your ship, Han?"

"Can't he ask himself?" the newly christened father of two asked.

"He is requesting leave from the Council to follow up on this, as the boldness seems off for Sith action, and just strange in general."

Han frowned, but nodded. "Tell him not a scratch, you hear me?"

"Certainly, Han," Mara said, and he nodded again, satisfied. While the adults had been talking, Jasmine had moved over next to Julia, and, consequently, the bassinet.

Like most of their classmates, Julia had always been taller than Jasmine, but now that she'd gone through a growth spurt that Jasmine hadn't seemed to share, she had something like 20 centimeters on the youngest of the clan. Except that she wasn't anymore, the two babies in the bassinet were. "Hi," Julia said quietly.

"Hi," Jasmine said back, absently. She suddenly focused all her attention to Julia. "What?"

Used to her odd shifts in focus, she simply answered, "I was appointed a full member of Rogue Squadron today."

Jasmine nodded. "I'm happy for you," and looked back at the babies in the bassinet. "I wish I could say that your new job will be easy, but full scale war has been brewing for a long time."

Julia was silent. She had sensed that something was brewing for a while though until Han had come back with Kyr had she hadn't had anything concrete, but that was just one rogue planet, wasn't it? Hardly a war, at least not at the scale that Jasmine was hinting at.

She opened her mouth to ask Jasmine for more detail but her words died as Luke appeared in the doorway, coming over to get a quick look at Sabé and Kitster. "Congratulations," he said to Leia and Han, "We have to go though," he said to Jasmine.

She looked up at him, nodding. "Can we take Kyr with us?"

"I don't see any reason why not," Luke said. "But this is not a pleasure trip, you might want to ask him."

She moved boldly forward. "Would you like to come with us as we search for my sister?"

It was something of a formal request, and Jasmine had simply asked him. It hadn't taken an act of the Senate and declarations by three Senators to get her to speak. "I," he started, "Don't I have to stay here and wait for the Chancellor?"

"That might be best," Han suggested, "Besides, you need to get into school, put something in that head of yours besides the nonsense you've been taught so far."

"Let's get going, then," Luke said, "No time to waste."

Kyr, the younger of the two non-Force-sensitive males that had come in with her sister and brother, stayed, and the other as-yet unidentified one, left with them. "Here's hoping that they can find Celia before anything bad happens to her."

* * *

**a ship, 39:4:8**

Celia Skywalker was finally sleeping when she was jerked out of bed by one of her captors. "Come on," said the man. All of them were male, and all of them carried lightsabers. This was not the head captor, but he was, if she were comparing the dozen of them to the Jedi Order, one of the Masters. She was sure after her 'stunt' she was not going to be allowed anywhere near one of the Padawans. They were well enough trained, but she outclassed them without even trying.

He led her to her head captor, her main problem. "We are at a meeting. If you do not want me to give you over to these people to be completely enslaved, you will behave yourself. They have a new method of inducing compliance in their slaves, which is both more humane and more terrifying. They implant their slaves with nanites, which attach themselves to a slave's motor control nerves. If a slave is disobedient, then their motor control can be locked down, and they will be unable to move. You can imagine how terrifying this could be. If I do not have your absolute compliance, we will see how well this works on Force-Sensitives, and we will also be trying out a variant of the nanites that attach themselves to midi-chlorians."

She had a healthy amount of respect for the threat. She'd been overpowered before, and if these were slavers, then she would find no friends among them, though she might find someone malleable enough that she would be able to Mind Trick them into helping her. That was a non-starter of a plan. She would not be getting away in this stop. She could understand what he was doing, trying to test how best to gain her cooperation. "I don't think it will be necessary to test out your nanites on me," she said.

"We will see," he said simply, and turned back to what he had been doing. It wasn't too long before the other ship made contact. The ships agreed to dock together. She waited with the several Masters of this odd group as the ships docked together. There was a small group meeting them; a small dumpy man, a tall blonde woman with curly hair, a Toyadorian, a taller man with a dour disposition, an older man with graying hair, and a female Twi'lek, with less than a full Lekku. None of them looked weak-willed, though the tall blonde woman seemed oddly familiar.

"Greetings, Master Levin," the head of their group said.

"Gethor, good to see you again. You've found a pretty young thing, now haven't you?"

"If she's not more trouble than she's worth. She is a Healer Trainee, and she will be difficult to control."

"Were you wanting to try the next generation slave tech on her?"

"If she becomes intractable," Gethor said. Celia was not at all pleased to find through reaching out just a little that the ship already contained thousands of scared individuals. This had to be a slaving ship, and they were the kind that captured their 'goods' to sell.

"Well, let me know. We are about to rendezvous with the Confederate general. While I am there, I can get you the injectable liquid, so that you can have it on hand."

"That sounds like an ideal solution," Gethor said, and the two captains moved off to a table in the common room or receiving room, or whatever this was. She was left under the watchful eyes of two of the Masters, and she watched the rest of the crew of both ships mingle. All except the tall blonde, who everyone seemed to be ignoring completely. It was almost like they couldn't see her. Celia moved over to the wall, slouching back against it. Her watchers stayed put, content that she was still within reach if things went awry.

It wasn't too long before the blonde was moving in her direction. She frowned, and studiously looked away, watching the rest of the goings on. "What are you doing here?" the woman asked in Huttese.

She muttered her reply in the same language, keeping her eyes ahead. "I, obviously, got captured. Who the Force are you, anyway?"

"A friend, better you not know, since you don't recognize me," she said with a small hint of pride.

"Should I recognize you?"

"I have gone to great lengths to be unrecognizable, I am pleased to see that it works even on you."

"Why doesn't anyone else react to you, and why can I see you if they can't?"

"I am very good at hiding myself. You see me because I want you to see me. Trust me, there is no one I can't hide myself from if I have need."

"You shouldn't boast on something you can't deliver."

"Considering I have tested myself against your father, I don't think it's a boast," the woman said. She must be a Jedi of some sort, but Celia could think of no one who even remotely resembled the woman who was sitting beside her. "I do not think I can get you out of the mess you are in at the moment, but I will see what I can do about finding someone who can."

And with that, the mysterious blonde woman was gone. Just absolutely and totally gone. Celia could not find her through the Force or with her eyes, and even reaching out to where she'd been sitting had no effect. She knew of no Force power that allowed someone to completely disappear. She saw the door open and close, but no one else seemed to take note of it. That impressed her. This Jedi could, perhaps, help her. For the first time since she had been put on the ship off Coruscant, she had hope that she would be able to get out of this. She began planning for the long-term, and cooperating with Gethor when there would be people outside the little band of odd semi-Jedi who worked with slavers trying to help her didn't seem like such a bad idea.

She thought about the woman, and she realized that her Force-signature was almost absent. Celia hadn't been able to read her at all, quite a feat considering she could usually read someone's Force presence without even thinking about it. She didn't even know if she had ever met this woman because she couldn't read anything other than what the woman wanted her to know. And she had no concept of how that was possible.

She was frowning, and that wouldn't keep the woman's presence secret. She put the incident firmly at the back of her mind, and focused on the conversation in front of her.

* * *

_**Brindle Airwing**_**, en route to the Horuz System, 39:4:8**

Liz was deep inside the engine compartment, trying to figure out how she would be able to get into the communications center of the ship. She could, with enough time, get a message to her father about Celia, erase it from the system, and no one would be the wiser. The problem was, that she would have to have an hour or so alone with the communications equipment, and with the five core people running the ship, there was not going to be an opportunity to do that in the ship's cockpit. There were other ways to do what she needed to do, but she would need to find the correct connection within the masses of wires running haphazardly about the ship.

She'd been intending on doing that anyway, but Celia's predicament made it more urgent. She said a word in Huttese that her father had yet to see fit to translate for them, but she'd heard him use on occasion, and it sounded appropriate. _"You shouldn't use language like that. It's not proper for a young lady."_

She turned her head, finding her Master's ghostly blue form, or at least part of it, interposed among the wiring. She sighed, "It's not my fault that Dad didn't teach me to curse more creatively," she told him in Huttese. It was important to keep in character, even if no one seemed to be around.

He laughed. _"I think what you are looking for is over here," _he said, pointing out another bundle of wires. He disappeared, which was nothing unusual. The only problem was that she wasn't particularly looking for anything, but she moved in the direction that he was indicating.

The wires were fairly ordinary, but as she determined the particulars of the bundle, she found the communications wires all ran through this particular bundle. And there were already shootoffs set up. She tucked these back in, intending on using those later; she would need something to interface the connection, and she hadn't brought anything. She moved on to a different bundle of wires, and found a damaged connection. She was still tracing it down when Vait poked his head in. "Scoto?"

"Ja, boss?"

"What are you doing?"

"Tracing down a problem wire," she told him in Huttese. She pointed to the wire she was having an issue with.

"Oh," he said, examining the wire, which looked like it had been chewed up_._ She had been able to determine the other side of the wire with the Force, something that would have normally taken hours if she didn't unbundle the set, so that made an excuse for the whole time that she was talking to Ci, and messing around looking at other wires. "If I didn't know better, I'd say a mynock had chewed on this, but mynock teeth aren't this small, and they definitely aren't this delicate with their food."

"What does the wire do?" she asked in Basic. He had been "teaching" her Basic, which would make communicating with him easier.

"Ah, it's a part of the security network," he answered vaguely.

"Should we replace now, or see if there are more damaged wires?"

He thought about it. "It's important to the function of the ship, we need to do this first."

She nodded. He sounded frustrated, and she couldn't blame him. If it had been her ship, she wouldn't have been satisfied until everything worked perfectly, and something chewing up the ships innards would have caused her as much grief. She went to the supply closet and found the gauge of wire that they would need, and she brought the spool. She didn't know how far the wire would have to stretch, and the less patch jobs they did on that wire, the better.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 39:4:9**

Kit Fisto was taking his turn at night watch for the Council. It was not the most boring duty at the Temple, because occasionally there were genuine emergencies that needed dealt with by someone with a clear head and the authority to actually do something, or more often than not, order that something be done. The chime on his comlink went off, and he answered it.

"Master, a representative of the government of New Ralltiir wishes to speak with you, he says it is very urgent," the Knight who was on overnight duties for incoming calls from the galaxy at large said.

"I will speak with him," Master Fisto agreed.

A fussy looking man appeared as a small holograph in his hand as he waited to hear what was so urgent. "We, the members of the Guild of Craftsman of New Ralltiir, regret to inform you that all members of the team negotiating a settlement between the governments of New Ralltiir and Coruscant were killed in a massive explosion that reduced to rubble an area with a radius of ten city blocks. It centered on the building they were in, and we know of no survivors from within that ten block radius, and a number of beings who were outside that radius were also killed. We have no bodies to return to you as would be customary, and any personal effects that would have been returned were destroyed also. the _Burgeoning Thunder_ will be returned to you when it is possible for us to do so; it was not damaged in the explosion."

"None of the Jedi who were on your planet were left alive?" Kit Fisto asked as he sat back in shock.

"None that we can find. We are making every attempt to find survivors, but that seems only possible at the edges of the explosion, the rest is vaporized, or granulated. If you will excuse me, I must return to searching for my son, it is believed he was in the area of the blast."

"Of course," he said, thumbing the comlink off. He sat for a minute trying to sort through the repercussions of what had happened. Two council members and the Chancellor, gone in one fell swoop. Seven young, impressionable, powerful children left without their parents to guide them, and having lost one of their siblings, as well as several other Jedi in the Skywalker clan. Seven people that they really could not afford to lose had just been wiped from the face of the galaxy.

There was nothing to be done but to try to find out what had happened, and as quickly as possible.

* * *

**Coruscant, Senate District, 500 Republica, 39:4:9**

Bail Organa was sleeping peacefully when he was awakened by his com going off. This was not uncommon; he had learned years ago to catch what sleep he could when he could, and since he was acting in the Chancellor's stead, he needed to be ready at a moment's notice. He scrubbed at his face with his hand for a moment before flipping his com on. "Senator Organa here," he identified himself.

"I am sorry to wake you," the soft voice started. He recognized the image as that of Jedi Master Fisto.

"Some things can't wait, I understand."

"This definitely. It was reported to the Council that shortly after transmitting the trade agreement they were there to negotiate, the team on New Ralltiir was the subject of an act of terrorism. The building they were in, and perhaps a radius of ten city blocks was all destroyed. Anakin and Padmé had gone with some others for reasons I cannot entirely fathom right now, and were there as well."

Bail's senses were instantly on high alert as he comprehended this news. "The Chancellor has been killed?"

"Along with a significant Jedi contingent, yes. Three Masters and three Padawans."

"It is a sad day for the Republic," Bail said. "To lose so many that I would call friend."

"For me as well," Master Fisto replied. "I will mourn those joining the Force, and the loss of so many is a hard burden to bear all at once. The Council will be available to assist the Senate if there is any need."

"We shall see. I may bring a few friends to see the Council during business hours, I will have to see. Thank you for letting me know."

"You were always spoken highly of by the Skywalker-Kenobi clan. I hope that you can find time to help them in their time of loss."

"Of course. I will do what I can, though no one can do much but offer a shoulder to cry on at these times," he said with a brief turn of his lips, though there was no warmth in his smile.

* * *

**_Twisted Mark, _in Hyperspace, 39:4:8**

Celia made every effort to cooperate. Someone at least knew who she was, and where she was. Even if she didn't know who that someone was, or even if she was on her side. With the threat of being locked inside her own body, or worse, being locked inside her own body without the use of the Force, she had good reason to be cooperative. That wasn't necessarily in her, but if there was already someone working to take down the organization she was captured by, or its affiliate, at least, there was a chance of rescue.

Gethor, as she'd learned her captor's name was, was less than pleased by the idea of dealing with slavers, and he only did so out of necessity. His organization was something of a go-between for something called the Imperial Contingent and some other less savory organizations. Since their organization was forced to be underground by the mandates of the Temple, they had little choice in who their friends would be. They had to take what they could get and couldn't be picky.

She knew the 12 men were Force sensitive, yet only half of them only partly trained. So no matter how much they would like to tear down the slavers they were helping, such an attempt would be complicated suicide.

Celia didn't know what either party had in mind but it couldn't be good, but they were obviously getting something out of the partnership, something worth selling out their moral convictions against slavery. It was...flexible of them.

Celia's own morality was not such that she could have bent the way that he did. Survival could be accomplished without resorting to dealing with slavers who captured their prey on unsuspecting planets. She had been sick much of the morning from the overwhelming fear and other negative emotion she'd taken in on the slaving ship, but she was feeling well enough now to do the work she was being assigned. She was somewhat surprised that Gethor was giving her school assignments, and what was more, that she was getting assignments that she would have gotten from her teachers at the school at the Temple. They'd probably found one or more ways to get into the Temple's database, which would mean they would have access to her assignments. Perhaps not; perhaps these were just common assignments for students of her level. She didn't know, but at least it felt like she wouldn't fall behind in her schoolwork.

* * *

**_Millennium Falcon_, en route to the Outer Rim, 39:4:9**

Luke dropped the _Falcon_ out of hyperspace. She would need a few minutes of cooldown, then they would alter their vector for the next leg of the trip. The ship's com lit up, he was being hailed. He felt a tingle of warning through the Force as he flipped it on. "Jedi Knight Skywalker," he said, identifying himself.

"This is Master Fisto, Knight Skywalker. I know you are looking for your sister, but something even more urgent has come up, and I need for you to take care of it. I examined your flight plan, you should not be terribly far from New Ralltiir, correct?"

"We aren't, just a couple of hours," Luke said after briefly consulting a starmap. "I assume you need me to go there."

"I do. The council of the Guild of Craftsman contacted us just a short time ago, letting us know that all members of the negotiating party had died in a massive explosion. While an official investigation is being organized as quickly as possible I sense it will be necessary to have someone on planet sooner," Master Fisto said.

Luke sat back. He knew his father and mother both had gone to see about something with Jaedrea, and thusly also Uncle Obi-Wan as well, just as he knew he would've felt any of their deaths having experienced the death of Master Yoda twice. "We will change course, and see what is going on, because, to start with, Father is not dead."

Master Fisto tilted his head, weighing Luke's statement, then nodded.. "Then it is even more urgent that someone be on the ground as soon as possible. I will send a second team to take over as soon as they can get there."

Luke nodded. "I don't know how much can be done in that short span, but if needed, I will leave Mara in charge of the investigation while I head out to follow Celia's trail."

"Strange thing that. While I was waiting to speak with you, a coded message came in for your father. I will send it to you to see what you can make of it. It appears to be about Celia, but he isn't here to pick up his messages, and this was on such a tight band, it only would have been intercepted on that specific line." Kit Fisto said, then sighed. "I don't know what to make of it, but with the urgency of this mission, I don't feel that it can wait for your father's reappearance."

A small written message appeared on the screen, then flashed off, having been uploaded to his system. He'd been making the calculation for the jump to hyperspace in his head while he had been talking to Master Fisto. "We are ready to jump now, so I will let you know what we know when we can. And you might tell Leia, she's still awake and will have a better sense of the political implications of all of this," he said as the hyperdrive lights started flashing to green.

"That is appreciated," he said, and turned the communication off from his end. He double checked his numbers, input them and made the jump.

"Mara," he called back into the main hold, and she came up to the cockpit. "We have a problem," he said as she sat down.

* * *

_**Millennium Falcon, **_**in orbit around New Ralltiir, 39:4:9**

Luke requested permission from the Traffic Tower at New Ralltiir to land, but he let Jasmine take the controls. It both distracted and calmed her, as well as freeing him up to survey the area both with his eyes and with the Force. It didn't take much skill to find the area where it looked like someone had used far too much explosive for the job that they wanted done; it was far in excess of overkill, and he didn't like the implications. If he was reading the cityscape correctly, the explosion had taken out about 300 city blocks and done severe damage to 120 or 150 more. They landed gently, and Luke focused on the now, not on the implications of a bomb that had in all likelihood killed seven people he considered close family. "Thank you for such a gentle landing, Padawan."

"I do what I can, Master," she said, blushing. He put a steadying hand on her shoulder, much as Qui-Gon often had with him.

"Let's go see if we can find anything worth finding," he said, and they went to the exit ramp together.

Mara and Luke exited first, followed by Jasmine, and a small, obviously hastily-put-together greeting party met them. "Honored Jedi," a man bowed low before them. "We are happy to receive your visit, though we were not expecting the official investigation team so soon," he said, and Luke could feel his genuine surprise.

"We were in the neighborhood, and heard what had happened. I assure you, it was not a problem to divert our mission slightly to come here," Luke assured them easily. It had, in fact, been a big problem, but this was more important even than finding Celia, as each passing minute could lead to the manufacture of evidence, the actual death of Anakin Skywalker and anyone else who might still be alive of the party, and there would be no way to know what had triggered the explosion.

"We would like to take a tour of the accident site before it gets too dark," Mara interjected, much to the man's displeasure.

"Of course," he said after a moment, probably trying to think of a way out of what they'd asked and coming up empty.

They offered a speeder and a guide. Luke took the speeder but rejected the guide. It was not a time when he wanted to have to hide his thoughts, or hold his tongue. No one outside the Temple would know, but he was holding on to his self-control by only the thinnest of threads. He headed in the direction of the destruction; it wasn't difficult for a Jedi to determine.

"Master, this place feels strange."

"I agree, Padawan, but 'strange' is not really something we can report to the Council."

"We are being watched," Mara said, indicating with only the barest of movements what she was talking about.

"So we are," Luke said. "We must be circumspect."

He piloted the speeder in a wide circle at the edge of the destruction, spiralling inward, and finally settling the speeder near the center. They filed out, hoods up, so that if there were recorders, it wouldn't be likely they could get something; only the most advanced microphones were good past 300 meters, and it was at least that to the nearest building. "I feel something that doesn't feel right," Jasmine declared quietly.

"Show me," Luke said, and she let him see what she saw, which seemed to amount to an absence of everything.

"It's a blank spot in the Force is all," Luke said, poking at it with his mind. "Though it's unusual in that it's perfectly round."

"It's not blank, or at least it's not entirely blank. I think it's supposed to be; that someone wants people to think it is, but it's not."

"So what is it?" Luke asked, curiosity piqued.

"I don't know. It's big enough to house a small room, five meters in diameter maybe, much bigger than any other blank spot in the Force I've ever encountered."

Luke poked at it again. "I hadn't considered that. You're right, most of them are small, less than a handspan."

"We should go before they suspect something," Mara said, referring to the fairly large group of people who were just out of sight, but not out of range for the Jedi to sense. "I'll stay here and inform the Council of our findings and try to find out more."

They climbed back into the speeder. "Thank you, Mara."

"Oh, I'll probably have my head handed to me for being outside the Temple as it is, I don't know that I want to face Master Windu if I were to actually accompany you in your search for Celia," Mara said lightly, though there was not much to be light about this day.

* * *

**Coruscant, Jedi Temple, 39:4:9**

Leia leaned back. After a full day of oohing and aahing, everyone had dispersed, even her sisters, everyone but Han. Even Chewie had gone, something about making sure that Kyr was properly settled. "Well, what do you think?"

"About what?" Han asked. It was very late, past midnight, but neither of them was ready for sleep.

"Anything, the babies, being a parent, the war that seems to have made its way here, despite the best efforts to prevent it, just whatever is on your mind."

"I am concerned about your relationship with your father. He concerns me a great deal."

"He concerns everyone a great deal. He and Mom took off a couple of days ago."

"Your mother left the planet?"

"She is allowed."

"The Senate doesn't get much done when she does. She usually tries to schedule those trips for when the Senate is off anyway."

"I think she feels like he could use a little moral support."

"And this impending doom that Jasmine spoke about."

"I don't know. I've never seen her act like she did today. It was very strange."

"What does it mean?"

"I don't know yet, but I'm sure it's a sign of things to come. She can't be a wallflower and be able to be a Jedi. We've known that for a long time."

"I know. There was an idea floating out there that she might not make a Padawanship."

"It seems to be working though. Luke is good with her."

"He is," Leia agreed. Her com went off. "Hello?" she answered.

"Senior Padawan Skywalker," the image of Master Fisto appeared before her.

"Yes, Master?" she asked, interested, but uncertain as to why she would be getting a call like this.

"I have some troubling and upsetting news, but I believe it is important that you hear this now, rather than later."

"Master Fisto?" he didn't usually edge around things, this must be something particularly bad.

"There was an explosion on New Ralltiir. It was reported that the entire Jedi contingent was killed, along with your mother."

"No," she said, flat. "I would know."

"Your brother said something similar. He is taking a short detour to the planet to do a preliminary investigation, and I have dispatched another team so that he can continue on with his original plan to find Celia, but with the explosion taking out a ten block radius, and no one having reported back that they have found survivors, I cannot just agree. There will have to be something better to go on."

Leia breathed out. He was not saying he didn't believe her. Or Luke, for that matter. But all evidence pointed to things being contrary to the way that she knew them to be. "Luke will find evidence, I'm sure of it, and shy of that, Father will turn up, probably when we least expect it."

"He has been know to do that in the past, however I do not know if this will prove to be one of those times. With so many of your family members gone, I will be calling everyone in from the field if possible. And Luke said something about you helping with the political ramifications of this."

"Yes, I could do that. It would help to stay busy. Who is in charge of the Senate now?"

"Bail Organa, though there could be a vote for a new Chancellor as early as tomorrow."

Leia nodded. "I should talk to him."

"I doubt he will get any more sleep tonight, I have already given him this news."

* * *

**New Ralltiir, landing, 39:4:9**

Mara watched as Luke took off in the _Falcon_ with Jasmine. He had trusted her enough to investigate what was going on, and she, too, had been able to sense the large blank in the Force, though she had no more clue what it meant than they did. She knew that Master Fisto had already sent out a team to help, that might come from any number of sources, though she hoped for experienced investigators. Most Jedi could follow an investigation, that wasn't difficult, it was actually conducting one and putting evidence together in a way that showed the reality of what happened that was more difficult. No one seemed to know where anyone had been.

Obi-Wan, her Master, had been conducting the negotiation. Actually, that had finished, and been transmitted to the Senate. Though, now, there was question as to whether that happened before or after the explosion. She'd glanced at the document and it was either a skillful forgery or a real document. One could never be entirely sure, though she thought it seemed genuine. And without Obi-Wan and this Negotiator Designate around to say so, some radical factions on the planet were trying to call the document's authenticity into question. That was actually the least of her concerns as she walked out from a street that was relatively unscathed to a path that was mostly clear, but showed the damage done by the bomb. Shortly thereafter, she entered the blast radius. She gathered the Force around her, searching for the ball of emptiness, but it was gone. Perhaps it had dissipated overnight, or perhaps someone had moved it, but had not expected such a quick response from the Core. After all, the core was normally at least 12 hours away with the fastest ships, though Han's and a very few others had been modified to twice that speed.

They had made it there within four hours of the explosion, because they had already been on their way out this direction. The ground had settled into a gentle depression, pulverized rubble filling in the hole that had been made by the blast. It was not terribly stable, but she kept herself from sinking through what was close to quicksand with the Force. She didn't even think much on it; her mind working on so many other possibilities as she waited for the formal investigative team.

"Lady Jedi," a voice called from the rim, and she walked toward them. It turned out to be a young man, probably fourteen or fifteen, native to the planet, but Human all the same.

"What can I help you with?"

"A ship's been stolen. One of the governor's ships," he added. "I'm a runner for the Governor, and he couldn't raise you by comlink."

"Do you have reason to believe that this has anything to do with the reason that I'm here?"

"It's possible. We don't have much crime or terrorism here, and what we do have tends more toward petty theft than toward ships just up and disappearing."

"Was the ship guarded?"

"No more than any other, but the Governor's pilots swear that the ship had been there not ten minutes before."

"Did it leave the atmosphere, or simply vanish?"

"It just vanished. Later, we found out that a ship cleared space on an unauthorized vector without responding to hails. That's when he tried to reach you."

"Well, let's see if there is something to this, and see if the ship may yet be recovered."

* * *

**Bandomeer, Spaceport, 39:4:9**

A young boy-well, young for other planets; here on Bandomeer, he was considered an adult-had been wandering about the spaceport, something he did when he could. He'd always wanted to be a pilot, and hoped someday he would get a chance. He'd taken some piloting classes when he had the time during school, but now that he was working, supporting himself and his mother, his three younger siblings, he didn't have time, and he was supposed to be making as much money as he could as fast as he could. His father had died three years previous, and for a while, his father's mother had taken care of them while his grandfather and his mother worked. Her parents had died years previous, and he hadn't ever known them.

But that had been before the last mine explosion. They didn't happen often, but sometimes the sensors died with no warning, despite everything that the Mining Corp did. His mother had been injured, and his grandfather had died. His grandmother and mother together were able to take care of his siblings, but someone had to make money for the house. So he went into the mines, first as a runner, carrying small items back and forth as people needed them. Water, tools, lights, just simple things that made their lives easier. He made enough that they could scrape by, enough food to not starve, enough heat to not freeze. After he'd been at that a little while, he'd built up some muscle, and they let him start working with the diggers. That paid better, but it was still hot sweaty work underground. He longed for the stars, and the pull of them was some days so strong it was all he could do to make himself go and do his work.

"Boy," a quiet voice said. He looked around, startled. There was a hooded figure off on the other side of the spaceport, and he knew somehow that the voice had come from him. He trotted over, hoping that maybe he would be asked to do some small service in exchange for a credit or two. "You oughtn't spend your days running around a spaceport, it might lead someone to put your life in jeopardy."

"Yes sir," he said.

"What is your name?"

"Tak'neth Elsyne."

"I have no further use of this ship that brought us here," he said, "But I cannot simply leave it in storage, it must be moved for our safety. Can you fly a ship?"

"Yes, sir. I've been spending any spare time I've had trying to learn. I was hoping that I would be able to do something that would let me..."

"You have family obligations," the hooded man said, and the boy nodded quietly. "Perhaps you could sell the ship; someone might want it for a fair price. These type of ships usually sell for 300,000 credits new, and 150,000 credits used. Without the title you would be lucky to get 100,000, but if you are careful, it is possible. The Baron Administrator of Cloud City would be fair to you if you gave him the name Solo. I am sorry I know no one closer who I would trust without introducing you personally."

"I could buy passage back for a small fee, maybe a thousand credits, that would leave many credits for my family to live on."

"Just be careful that you do not show off your credits unnecessarily. Good luck, Tak'neth Elsyne."

"Good day, sir," he said with a grin and a small salute as he ran up the ramp of the ship, eager to take off into the wild unknown, even if what he was doing was going to a predetermined location to dispose of a ship that would be parted out so that its existence ceased. The money would help his family for a long time, and the geis that the boy was under would likely ensure his safety. There was little he could do beyond what he'd already done. He didn't like that he'd had to steal from one and give to another, and that their passage had to be kept such a secret, but until he knew more, there was only what he could do and control. He hoped it would be enough.


End file.
